Teresa Brewer Biography
Theresa Veronica Breuer, 7 May 1931, Toledo, Ohio, USA, d. 17 October 2007, New Rochelle, New York, USA. A child prodigy, Brewer first appeared on radio at the age of two and sang on the Major Bowes' Amateur Hour between 1938 and 1943. She was a veteran radio and club performer by the time she joined London Records in 1949. The attractive and strong-voiced teenager topped the US chart in 1950 with her debut hit "Music! Music! Music!", on which she was backed by the Dixieland All Stars. She joined Coral Records in 1951 and continued hitting the US Top 10 with records such as "Ricochet", "Jilted" and the number 1 "Till I Waltz Again With You". In 1953 she made her film debut in Those Redheads From Seattle with Guy Mitchell. Her first transatlantic Top 10 hit was her version of "Let Me Go Lover" in 1955, which she followed with two more in 1956, "A Tear Fell" and "A Sweet Old-Fashioned Girl".
As rock 'n' roll took over, Brewer's sales declined and like many other MOR pop stars of the time she reverted to covering R&B hits for the white record-buying public. In this vein she had some success with tracks including "Pledging My Love", "Tweedle Dee" and "You Send Me". Brewer had a brief flirtation with country-styled material in the early 60s and then joined the lucrative nightclub and Las Vegas circuit. She later recorded for Philips Records, Signature, Project 3, Doctor Jazz, Red Baron and Amsterdam, the latter label being owned by her producer husband Bob Thiele. In the 70s and later decades she established herself as a jazz singer, recording with Stéphane Grappelli, Count Basie and Duke Ellington among others. She was also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. In all, Brewer accumulated 38 US chart hits, but by the late 50s, when rock was firmly established, there was no place in the charts for this sweet, old-fashioned girl.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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