Lola Dee(1928-2023)
Singer Lola Dee, also known as Lola Ameche, recorded extensively for Mercury and Columbia Records in the 1950s and toured internationally with Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, and Johnnie Ray.
Born in Chicago as Lorraine DeAngelis, one of three siblings, she maintained her career in that city for all of her life. She began singing before the age of two. With the help and support of her mother, Ida, and her father, Peter, a professional drummer, she was performing in local amateur shows by the time she was nine.
At age 14, she was heard on a local radio program, and was asked to audition for a new ABC network show, "Teen Town", about a town run by talented teenagers. It premiered in 1945 and she took the name Lola Ameche, a phonetic version of her own mother Ida's maiden name ("Amici"). The show's title was later changed to "Junior Junction" and other cast members included actor Dick York, who garnered his greatest fame as (the first) Darrin Stephens on Bewitched (1964), and Mary Hartline, who had early TV success as the vivacious bandleader on the children's show Super Circus (1949).
An appearance on the very popular National Barn Dance (1944) led ABC to sign Lola as a staff vocalist, and she sang five days a week on a 15-minute show with famed guitarist George Barnes. She soon came to the attention of bandleader Al Trace, with whom she made her first recording, "When Lola Plays the Pianola", which was released on the Columbia label in 1950. Following a few more sessions with Danny Alvin's Kings of Dixieland and the Cliff Parman orchestra, she was signed to a five-year contract by Chicago-based Mercury Records, a recently-formed independent company that was riding high with Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, and Patti Page.
Page, by this time, was the country's top-selling female singer and understandably had her pick of the best new material, but Lola still managed to find her own niche with upbeat novelty songs, most often accompanied by Al Trace's orchestra, and she scored a hit with her first Mercury release, "Pretty Eyed Baby", which reached No. 12 in Cashbox and No. 21 in Billboard. It was followed by her biggest hit, "Hitsity Hotsity", and she continued to record more than two dozen songs over the next three years, generating tremendous radio and jukebox play with her swinging versions of "Dance Me Loose", "Old Man Mose", "Down Yonder", "Takes Two to Tango", and "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes". She was often backed by Ralph Marterie's band, with whom she also toured, and Marterie became her new manager.
In 1954, with rock and role starting to take over the country, Mercury decided to update her image and changed her name to the hipper-sounding "Lola Dee". She turned her hair blonde for a sexier new look and was back on the charts with her release under her new name, a change-of-pace ballad entitled "Padre," which Elvis Presley named as one of his favorite recordings. Later that same year, she and Marterie recorded what would become a perennial Christmas classic, "Dig That Crazy Santa Claus", which is still heard every season and was covered by Brian Setzer in 2005.
Mercury also used Lola Dee to launch their new subsidiary label, Wing Records, and had her cover their own Platters' hit, "Only You (and You Alone)," which sold nearly a million copies, backed by an additional chart hit, "Paper Roses". She recorded another two-dozen songs over the next two years, including a cover of the Chordettes hit "Born to Be With You", two popular duets with Rusty Draper, "Scratch My Back" and "Behind Those Swinging Doors", and the title song from Rita Hayworth's film "Fire Down Below".
At the end of her contract, Lola began focusing more on live performances, touring with Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Ray, playing clubs and theaters in Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean, South America, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines, where she especially popular, recording "Dahil Sayo" with the Manila Symphony, released there by Mercury.
Back home in Chicago, she continued to be heard as a featured singer on WGN radio and television, often appearing with National Radio Hall of Fame broadcaster Orion Samuelson from 1971-78, and making annual appearances at the Illinois State Fair. She also portrayed Klondike Kate at Edmonton, Canada's Klondike Days Expo, and performed for three years on the Royal Caribbean International cruise line.
She then curtailed her career to care for her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer's, and her last two public appearances were singing the national anthem for both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox in 1978. Continuing to care for her mother, she switched careers in 1988 and became an executive hotel concierge. and was the top national vote getter among the Hilton Hotels and Resorts honors program. Hilton's Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois, named an executive club for her. In 2013, she was inducted into the Chicago Concierge Hall of Fame.
In 2015, the British-based Jasmine Records label issued a 58 track, two-CD compilation of her nearly her complete recordings under both names, entitled "Lola Dee Meets Lola Ameche", which became a big seller and is still available.
Born in Chicago as Lorraine DeAngelis, one of three siblings, she maintained her career in that city for all of her life. She began singing before the age of two. With the help and support of her mother, Ida, and her father, Peter, a professional drummer, she was performing in local amateur shows by the time she was nine.
At age 14, she was heard on a local radio program, and was asked to audition for a new ABC network show, "Teen Town", about a town run by talented teenagers. It premiered in 1945 and she took the name Lola Ameche, a phonetic version of her own mother Ida's maiden name ("Amici"). The show's title was later changed to "Junior Junction" and other cast members included actor Dick York, who garnered his greatest fame as (the first) Darrin Stephens on Bewitched (1964), and Mary Hartline, who had early TV success as the vivacious bandleader on the children's show Super Circus (1949).
An appearance on the very popular National Barn Dance (1944) led ABC to sign Lola as a staff vocalist, and she sang five days a week on a 15-minute show with famed guitarist George Barnes. She soon came to the attention of bandleader Al Trace, with whom she made her first recording, "When Lola Plays the Pianola", which was released on the Columbia label in 1950. Following a few more sessions with Danny Alvin's Kings of Dixieland and the Cliff Parman orchestra, she was signed to a five-year contract by Chicago-based Mercury Records, a recently-formed independent company that was riding high with Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, and Patti Page.
Page, by this time, was the country's top-selling female singer and understandably had her pick of the best new material, but Lola still managed to find her own niche with upbeat novelty songs, most often accompanied by Al Trace's orchestra, and she scored a hit with her first Mercury release, "Pretty Eyed Baby", which reached No. 12 in Cashbox and No. 21 in Billboard. It was followed by her biggest hit, "Hitsity Hotsity", and she continued to record more than two dozen songs over the next three years, generating tremendous radio and jukebox play with her swinging versions of "Dance Me Loose", "Old Man Mose", "Down Yonder", "Takes Two to Tango", and "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes". She was often backed by Ralph Marterie's band, with whom she also toured, and Marterie became her new manager.
In 1954, with rock and role starting to take over the country, Mercury decided to update her image and changed her name to the hipper-sounding "Lola Dee". She turned her hair blonde for a sexier new look and was back on the charts with her release under her new name, a change-of-pace ballad entitled "Padre," which Elvis Presley named as one of his favorite recordings. Later that same year, she and Marterie recorded what would become a perennial Christmas classic, "Dig That Crazy Santa Claus", which is still heard every season and was covered by Brian Setzer in 2005.
Mercury also used Lola Dee to launch their new subsidiary label, Wing Records, and had her cover their own Platters' hit, "Only You (and You Alone)," which sold nearly a million copies, backed by an additional chart hit, "Paper Roses". She recorded another two-dozen songs over the next two years, including a cover of the Chordettes hit "Born to Be With You", two popular duets with Rusty Draper, "Scratch My Back" and "Behind Those Swinging Doors", and the title song from Rita Hayworth's film "Fire Down Below".
At the end of her contract, Lola began focusing more on live performances, touring with Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante and Johnnie Ray, playing clubs and theaters in Canada, Mexico, Cuba, the Caribbean, South America, Australia, Singapore, Japan, and the Philippines, where she especially popular, recording "Dahil Sayo" with the Manila Symphony, released there by Mercury.
Back home in Chicago, she continued to be heard as a featured singer on WGN radio and television, often appearing with National Radio Hall of Fame broadcaster Orion Samuelson from 1971-78, and making annual appearances at the Illinois State Fair. She also portrayed Klondike Kate at Edmonton, Canada's Klondike Days Expo, and performed for three years on the Royal Caribbean International cruise line.
She then curtailed her career to care for her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer's, and her last two public appearances were singing the national anthem for both the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox in 1978. Continuing to care for her mother, she switched careers in 1988 and became an executive hotel concierge. and was the top national vote getter among the Hilton Hotels and Resorts honors program. Hilton's Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois, named an executive club for her. In 2013, she was inducted into the Chicago Concierge Hall of Fame.
In 2015, the British-based Jasmine Records label issued a 58 track, two-CD compilation of her nearly her complete recordings under both names, entitled "Lola Dee Meets Lola Ameche", which became a big seller and is still available.