The song of the day for Saturday, July 21, 2018 is “Blue and Sentimental.”

About This Song

“Blue and Sentimental” was written in 1938 by Count Basie, Jerry Livingston, Mack David. This song was initially recorded by the Count Basie Orchestra in 1938. It has since been recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Mel Tormé.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and Kay Starr recorded “Blue and Sentimental” in 2001 for the album Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues.

And he does indeed sing the blues.

“Blue and Sentimental,” as well as Playin’ With My Friends, is available from iTunes.

About Today

Today we are honoring Kay Starr, who was born on July 21, 1922 in Dougherty, Oklahoma, though the family soon moved to Dallas. She started singing on radio talent shows at the age of 7 and by the age of 10 she had her own 15 minute radio show. At the age of only 15, she was hired to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra, with the caveat of a midnight curfew at the insistence of her parents. She went on to have an illustrious singing career that lasted for many years–she released her last album in 1997.

Starr was successful in every field of music she tried: jazz, pop and country. But her roots were in jazz. Billie Holiday, considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all time, called Starr “the only white woman who could sing the blues.”

Kay Starr died in November 2016. She is buried in her birthplace of Dougherty, Oklahoma next to her parents.

Our Saturday video features one of Kay Starr’s greatest hits: “Wheel of Fortune,” as sung on television in 1952.