Savannah Churchill was born Savannah Valentine to Creole parents in Colfax, Louisiana in August 1920, but was raised in Brooklyn, and started singing professionally in 1941 in order to support her family after her first husband, David Churchill, was killed in an automobile accident. She made her first records in 1942 for Beacon, then switched to the fledgling Capitol label to record some sides with the Benny Carter Orchestra, which included her first hit "Hurry Hurry". In 1945, she moved on to the Manor label, scoring a No.3 R&B hit that year with "Daddy Daddy". Her biggest success came two years when she achieved her only R&B No. 1 with "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)", which was No. 1 for eight weeks, the song going on to become a much-recorded standard. She was a popular 'live' performer, often billed as "Sex-Sational", touring widely and appearing in the movies "Miracle In Harlem" in 1948 and "Souls Of Sin" in 1949. By the end of the decade she had left Manor and recorded for Regal, RCA Victor and Decca, including recording the original version of "Shake A Hand" which was later a major hit for Faye Adams. Her career was bizarrely and tragically ended in 1956 when a drunk fell on her from a balcony, causing severe injuries from which she never properly recovered. Apart from some recordings in 1960, she was never able to work consistently again, and her health declined over the years until her death in 1974 at the age of 53. Acrobat has an exclusive album entirely devoted to her recordings for the Manor label - for details click here.