Jo Ann Greer

Jo Ann Greer (Katherine Joan Greer April 3, 1927 - May 24, 2001) was an American singer.

Her career spanned nearly 50 years, and she primarily worked in the fields of movie dubbing and band-singing. She initially became known to Hollywood casting people from an early marriage to pianist Freddie Slack in the 1940s and later through her long employment with Les Brown and his Band of Renown. Following some early appearances with Sonny Burke and his orchestra, Greer recorded for Decca Records and joined Ray Anthony's band, with whom she scored her two biggest hits, "Wild Horses" (No. 28 in Billboard) and "The Hokey Pokey" in 1953. After four unhappy months, she replaced Lucy Ann Polk as vocalist with Les Brown's band in May, 1953. They made numerous singles for Coral Records and later Capitol Records and toured internationally for nearly 40 years, well into the early 90's. She won the 1956 Downbeat Readers Poll for "best girl band vocalist." Greer became increasingly associated with her distinctive version of Brown's hit song "Sentimental Journey", which he had originally recorded with Doris Day. Unfortunately, the bandleaders' names were the ones that were prominently featured on the labels and Greer's name, if it appeared at all, was in fine print.

Her other career was as a secret "ghost" singer for famous movie stars. In 1952, Rita Hayworth had returned to Hollywood following the break-up of her marriage to Prince Aly Khan and began work on her "comeback" film, Affair in Trinidad. After several failed attempts to let Hayworth try and do her own singing, musical director Morris Stoloff brought in Greer, who was deemed a good vocal match and even had a slight lisp similar to Hayworth's. Greer's vocals on "Trinidad Lady" and "I've Been Kissed Before" helped the movie become a big box-office hit, even out-grossing Gilda by more than a million dollars.

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