Up for auction "The Chordettes" Margie Latzko Hand Signed 3X5 Picture Card.
ES-6151E, ES-6772E
The
Chordettes were an American
female popular singing
quartet, usually singing a cappella, and specializing
in traditional popular music.
They are best known for their songs "Mr. Sandman" and "Lollipop". The group
organized in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in
1946. The original members of the group were Janet Ertel (née Buschmann;
September 21, 1913 – November 22, 1988), Alice Mae Buschmann Spielvogel,
Dorothy "Dottie" (Hummitzsch) Schwartz, and Jinny Osborn/Lockard (April 25, 1927 – May 19, 2003). Alice
Spielvogel was replaced by Carol Buschmann, her sister-in-law, in 1947. In
1952, Lynn Evans (née Hargate; May 2, 1924 – February 6, 2020) replaced Schwartz, as Evans described in a 2015
interview.[2] And in 1953, Margie Needham replaced Osborn
(who was having a baby), though Osborn later returned to the group. Nancy Overton also was a member of the group at a later
time. Originally they sang folk music in the style of The Weavers, but eventually changed to a harmonizing style of
the type known as barbershop harmony or close harmony. Part of this change seems to be influenced by
Osborn's father.[ Jinny Osborn was born in Seattle, Washington. She was
born Virginia Cole, the daughter of O. H. "King" Cole,
who was president (1948-1949) of the Barbershop Harmony Society (then
known as SPEBSQSA), and Katherine Flack. After performing locally
in Sheboygan, they won on Arthur Godfrey's radio program Talent Scouts in
1949. They held feature status on Godfrey's daily program, and in 1950 cut
their first LP, a collection of standards titled Harmony Time. for
Columbia Records. Three more LPs followed. In
1953, Godfrey's music director and orchestra leader, Archie Bleyer, founded Cadence Records. He signed a number of Godfrey regulars and
former regulars, including the Chordettes, who had a number of hit records for
Cadence. Beginning in January 1954, the group sang on the Robert Q. Lewis Show,
a weekday afternoon program on CBS-TV. The Chordettes had released a
couple of singles with Arthur Godfrey on Columbia in 1950-51 but didn't cut a
solo single until their breakout hit Mr. Sandman, released in late
1954 and which went on to become a #1 1955 hit. Archie Bleyer himself is on
that record along with the group; Bleyer stripped down the sound to highlight
the girls' voices. They also hit #2 with 1958's "Lollipop" and also
charted with a vocal version of the themes from Disney's Zorro (U.S. #17)
(1959) and the film Never on Sunday (U.S. #13) (1961). Other hits for the
group included "Eddie My Love" (U.S. #14), "Born to Be With
You" (U.S. #5), "Lay Down Your Arms" in 1956, and "Just
Between You and Me" (U.S. #8) in 1957. Their cover of "The White Rose
Of Athens" hit the Australian Top 15 in May, 1962. The US single "In
The Deep Blue Sea" was a one-week Music Vendor entry four months later
(#128). Janet Ertel married Bleyer in 1954. Her daughter Jackie married another
Cadence recording star, Phil Everly of The Everly Brothers. The
Chordettes appeared on American Bandstand on
August 5, 1957, the first episode of that show to be broadcast nationally on
the ABC Television Network.
In 1961, Jinny Osborn again left the group. Unable to find a satisfactory
replacement, the group disbanded in 1963.