I was quite saddened to learn of the untimely passing of Broadway chanteuse Eartha Kitt. She was the epitome of a vamp and clearly excelled at drawing an audience to her side. Her sultry, mesmerizing allure led her to play the role of Catwoman in the 1960s television series Batman.
Her long-lasting career as a carbaret artist began quite humbly in the cotton fields of Columbia, South Carolina where she was born to a white dirt farmer and Black Cherokee mother on January 17, 1927. Due to familial difficulties, she was sent to live with an aunt in Harlem at the age of eight. After a tumultous adolescence, she joined the Katherine Dunham Dance Troupe in 1948 and toured throughout the United States and Europe. She decided to stay in Paris and was a nightclub sensation. After returning to New York, she performed on Broadway in New Faces of 1952, Mrs. Paterson (1954), Shinbone Alley (1957) and Timbuktu!1978). Her film appearances included New Faces of 1952, St. Louis Blues with Nat King Cole, The Mark of the Hawk with Sidney Poitier and Anna Lucasta with Sammy Davis Jr. Her inimicable personality was duly noted in many songs, particularly "I Want to be Evil," "An Englishman Needs Time," "Santa Baby," "I'm Just an Old-Fashioned Girl," and "I'm Still Here."
If you are interested in hearing her recordings, be sure to checkout Live at the Plaza, Purr-fect: Greatest Hits and the 1998 recording of The Wizard of Oz.
