Jo Stafford
Jo Stafford
Jo Elizabeth Staffordwas an American traditional pop music singer and occasional actress, whose career spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Admired for the purity of her voice, she originally underwent classical training to become an opera singer before following a career in popular music, and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom,...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionMusician
Date of Birth12 November 1917
CountryUnited States of America
I just learned my lyrics and tried not to bump into the trumpet player. That was my philosophy.
When rock came in, I wasn't bitter about it. I was puzzled.
There was never anything like it before in history. It was a different kind of joyous, happy screaming.
I had four or five years in school training as a soprano. I fell into pop singing because of economics. I got out of high school and had to go work, and they weren't hiring opera singers.
I never thought about 'Who is Jo Stafford?' She just is. Jo Stafford is a lot of different people. She was a singer. Now, she's a dedicated grandmother: Cheapest Babysitter in Southern California.
When rock music came in, I wasn't bitter about it. I was puzzled.
The world is a pile of grunge.
Songwriting is an art unto itself, not to be confused with performing.
Songs suffer at the mercy of the performer.
I had a very unusual contract. Most artists actually pay for their record dates and it comes out of their royalties. I paid for nothing.
I wasn't driven. I just really loved what I did.
I'll probably never put out another album because I'm a tough critic of my work, and I don't think I could come up to those standards any more.
I've got a computer, but I won't go near it.
Whatever fame came did so not because I sought it.