Jeannie McKeon was a radio vocalist who made a number of records for the Black & White label in about 1946. She later turned up on a 1955 RCA Camden EP with Jack Haskell, which is where I learned of her.
That EP - one of the many in the "Today's Hits" budget line - appeared on my singles blog last year. I liked Jeannie's singing, so I looked into her earlier recordings. I found 10 of her 12 Black & White label recordings on Internet Archive and cleaned them up for this post.
About Jeannie McKeon
As is often the case with obscure vocalists, the available information is scant. We do know that she was born Alice Collins in 1916, likely in Lewiston, Maine, where she died in 2003. She was married to Wilfrid Lessard.
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Jeannie McKeon and Roy Bargy |
Roy leads the accompaniments for the bulk of this program.
Yesterdays
Eight of the 10 McKeon sides in today's program come from her 1947 album "Yesterdays," named for a Kern-Harbach standard that leads off the album. The 78 was backed by "It Had to Be You," the Isham Jones-Gus Kahn song.
Victor Young and Sam Lewis wrote the memorable Depression anthem "Street of Dreams" in 1933. Its mate is the much more upbeat "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" by Clarence Gaskill and Jimmy McHugh.
Martin and Blane's "The Boy Next Door" was still a relatively new song, having been written for 1944's Meet Me in St. Louis. The backing was another fine Jones-Kahn tune, "Swinging Down the Lane."
Two Gershwin songs complete the program - "Embraceable You" and "Love Walked In."
Bonus Songs
One is a favorite of mine, "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song." Jeannie's skillful version was a cover of Bing Crosby's recording. He had introduced the Irving Berlin classic in 1946's Blue Skies.
The backing was "I May Be Wrong (But I Think You're Wonderful)," which Henry Sullivan and Harry Ruskin wrote for the 1929 revue Murray Anderson's Almanac.
Al Sack led the band for these two songs.
Hope you enjoy this brief program from a forgotten singer.
