All The Hits And More 1939-60

Dinah Shore was one of the USA’s most popular and successful entertainers, her peak recording career spanning the war years and the immediate post-war decades, when she also became a high-profile TV host with her own weekly Chevrolet-sponsored show, which more or less defined the USA in the 1950s. She was one of the very first female singers to come to prominence purely as a solo artist, rather than as a big band singer, and was such a prolific chart performer that, having had her first hit in 1939, she had racked up more than 50 hits by the end of the ‘40s, including memorable No. 1s like “I’ll Walk Alone”, “Anniversary Song”, “The Gypsy” and “Buttons And Bows”. She continued scoring hits through what was often called the “Golden age of popular music” in the early ‘50s, scoring her final chart entry in 1960, by which time the rock ‘n’ roll and teen revolution had largely superseded artists of her generation. This great value 100-track 4-CD set, comprising all the ninety or so records which made one or other of the US charts, plus selected other A sides, provides a thorough overview of the recordings which brought her greatest popularity, including her hits with the orchestras of Xavier Cugat, Dick Todd and Woody Herman, as well as her duets with Tony Martin. It’s a fine showcase for her distinctive style and talent and is an entertaining and nostalgic celebration of an artist who was such a glamorous icon of her era.