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LP
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RUM 2011068LP
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Eartha Kitt's life was one of the more fascinating and uniquely American stories in popular music. Born in 1927 in South Carolina to an African-American and Cherokee mother and a, presumed, white father whose identity has never been confirmed -- it's been speculated that he was one of the adult children of owners of the cotton plantation where Kitt was born -- Kitt was raised by two different families before moving to NYC in the late '30s/early '40s to be reunited with her biological mother. There she took quickly to the arts and began working in the world's first African-American modern dance group and cabaret, The Katherine Dunham Company, before being cast in Orson Welles' staging of Dr. Faustus as Helen of Troy. Though she was a talented actress and dancer, Kitt is perhaps best remembered for her distinctive voice, which is in fine form on 1962's Bad But Beautiful. Assisted by the legendary arranger, Billy May, Kitt works her way through 12 classic numbers here in the sultry and swinging manner that she is famous for. A classic LP from a true American original, Eartha Kitt.
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