Did Stafford find it difficult to sing in such ear-jarring fashion? "Well, Jo Stafford might have found it difficult," she told the Chicago Tribune in 1988, "but Darlene had no problem at all."
It worked so well, in fact, that the duo's recording of "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris" won the Grammy for Best Comedy Album of 1960. It was the only Grammy that Stafford would win.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday, July 19, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 20 words Type of Material: Correction
Stafford obituary: The obituary of singer Jo Stafford in Friday's California section reported that she died Sunday. She died Wednesday.
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born Nov. 12, 1917, in the San Joaquin Valley town of Coalinga. Her parents, Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna York Stafford, moved the family to Long Beach, where she graduated from high school after having five years of classical voice training. Besides her singing, she was, according to her son, a very good pianist.
After working for the Dorsey Orchestra from 1939 to 1942, Stafford began her solo career as one of the first acts on the new Capitol Records label. She moved to Columbia Records in 1950 and back to Capitol in 1961. Although she was active for a relatively brief time as a solo artist, she sold more than 25 million records.
Once she had decided to end her singing career in the mid-1960s, however, Stafford seemed little tempted to return.
Asked at the time whether she might consider the sort of comeback that had worked for such contemporaries as Rosemary Clooney and Patti Page, her response was concise and to the point. She no longer sang, she said, "for the same reason that Lana Turner is not posing in bathing suits anymore."
Stafford did make a few appearances after the 1960s, among them a revival of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in the late '70s for which she sang inimitable lounge versions of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" and Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman."
Stafford's first marriage -- to Pied Pipers singer John Huddleston -- ended in divorce. She married Weston in 1952; they had two children, Tim, a musician and record producer, and Amy, a singer. Her husband died in 1996.
She is survived by her children; four grandchildren; and her younger sister, Betty Jane. Services will be private.
Instead of flowers, donations may be made to the Share Inc charity.
