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Marion Harris was one of the most popular and successful female singers in the early era of the recording industry, and she had a concentrated string of hits during those years, often recording the original hit versions of songs which went on to become ubiquitous standards of the Great American Songbook. Born Mary Harrison in Indiana in 1896, she started performing in vaudeville in Chicago around 1914, and made her debut in an Irving Berlin revue on Broadway the following year, which led to a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company. This 45-track 2-CD collection comprises all her 43 US hits on the Victor, Columbia and Brunswick labels, plus selected bonus tracks. It features the No.1s “After You’ve Gone”, “St. Louis Blues”, “Look For The Silver Lining” and “Tea For Two”, plus early hit versions of future classics like “I Ain’t Got Nobody”, “I’m Nobody’s Baby”, “Beale Street Blues”, “Who’s Sorry Now”, “I’ll See You In My Dreams”, “The Man I Love” and more. She was a song stylist who was very much of her era, performing not so much in the Roaring Twenties style, but more in the mainstream pop mode which was equally characteristic of the times. It’s a fine showcase for her distinctive way with a song, and an evocative window onto the popular music of the day.
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