Lita Roza
| Lita Roza | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Lilian Patricia Lita Roza |
| Born |
14 March 1926 Liverpool, Lancashire, England |
| Died | 14 August 2008 (aged 82) London, England |
| Genres | Traditional pop |
| Website | Official website |
Lita Roza (14 March 1926 – 14 August 2008) was an English singer whose 1953 hit record "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?" made her the first British solo singer to top the UK Singles Chart.
Born Lilian Patricia Lita Roza in Liverpool, Lancashire, England, she was the eldest of seven children. and began work at an early age to support the family. She owed her sultry looks and passion to her father, an amateur accordionist who also played piano in Liverpool nightclubs. Her father was of Filipino ancestry.
At the age of 12, she saw an advert in the local newspaper for juvenile dancers and passed the audition. She took to the stage at that age in a pantomime and by the time she was 15 was working with the comedian, and fellow Merseysider, Ted Ray. When she was 16, she answered got a job as a singer in the "New Yorker" club in Southport for £5 a week before then shortly afterwards signing up with the Harry Roy Orchestra in London. She moved on from this to work with other bands of the era including that of Edmundo Ros.
By the time she was 18, Roza had retired from show business, married an American and moved to Miami, Florida. However, the marriage did not last and shortly after the Second World War she returned to the United Kingdom. In 1950, she became the lead female singer with the Ted Heath Band and by 1954 had achieved enough public acclaim to leave the band and pursue a solo recording career.
Roza's "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", a cover version of Patti Page's original produced by Dick Rowe, was the peak of her career. Further covers of "Hey There" and "Jimmy Unknown" gave her small hits in the mid-1950s. Roza disliked her chart-topping single so much she never performed it live.
...
Wikipedia