Biography
Born on 5 May 1922 in Chicago, Illinois, Lewis entered a household steeped in music that made a future in entertainment almost unavoidable. Leon Lewis, her father, composed symphonic works and performed as a pianist, while her mother Jessica performed with the Chicago Opera Company and rose to prominence as one of America’s foremost vocal instructors. Her sister Barbara Lewis Golub forged a career as a concert pianist, and her brother Marlo Lewis produced the original Ed Sullivan program The Toast Of The Town. After receiving vocal instruction from her mother, Lewis withdrew from college at 17 to pursue radio work as a singer. While still a teenager she hosted her own WMCA program in New York, Monica Makes Music. That radio exposure brought an engagement at the Stork Club and guest spots alongside Benny Goodman’s orchestra. Further radio appearances with Frank Sinatra, Dick Powell, and Morton Gould led to recording dates for Signature Records and Decca Records, yielding hits such as “A Tree In A Meadow” and “Autumn Leaves.”
For more than ten years she also supplied the singing voice of the “Chiquita Banana” character in animated shorts and advertisements. Her appearance on Sullivan’s first television broadcast in 1948 attracted Hollywood interest, and MGM signed her, preparing her for dramatic roles as the studio’s counterpart to Lana Turner. One of her early pictures, The Strip (1951), featured Mickey Rooney as a jazz drummer backed by Louis Armstrong’s band. She continued accepting film parts that sometimes called for on- or off-screen vocals; in Everything I Have Is Yours (1952) she performed the title number and danced opposite Gower Champion. Frequent television bookings followed with Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the last of whom she joined as co-headliner for a New York nightclub run. She also joined USO tours, including a stop in Korea with Danny Kaye.
Although she was then at the peak of her popularity, headlining major rooms in Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco, and other cities, Lewis withdrew from performing after her marriage to film executive Jennings Lang. The pull of the stage nevertheless proved lasting. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s she resumed guest roles on series such as Wagon Train, Peter Gunn, Ironside, Quincy, Falcon Crest, and Remington Steele, and she made sporadic screen appearances in Charley Varrick (1973), Airport ’77 (1977), and The Sting II (1983). In the mid- and late 1980s she reentered the recording studio, issuing the widely acclaimed album Never Let Me Go, whose reception prompted the reissue of her 1950s sides.
A poised interpreter of standards and Broadway material, Lewis possessed a clear, precise vocal timbre whose warmth, gentle vibrato, and latent strength lent individuality to an extensive repertoire. Her son Mike Lang, an established studio musician and composer who has performed with leading jazz artists, played piano on and produced several of her later recordings.
For more than ten years she also supplied the singing voice of the “Chiquita Banana” character in animated shorts and advertisements. Her appearance on Sullivan’s first television broadcast in 1948 attracted Hollywood interest, and MGM signed her, preparing her for dramatic roles as the studio’s counterpart to Lana Turner. One of her early pictures, The Strip (1951), featured Mickey Rooney as a jazz drummer backed by Louis Armstrong’s band. She continued accepting film parts that sometimes called for on- or off-screen vocals; in Everything I Have Is Yours (1952) she performed the title number and danced opposite Gower Champion. Frequent television bookings followed with Bob Hope, Milton Berle, and the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, the last of whom she joined as co-headliner for a New York nightclub run. She also joined USO tours, including a stop in Korea with Danny Kaye.
Although she was then at the peak of her popularity, headlining major rooms in Las Vegas, New York, San Francisco, and other cities, Lewis withdrew from performing after her marriage to film executive Jennings Lang. The pull of the stage nevertheless proved lasting. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s she resumed guest roles on series such as Wagon Train, Peter Gunn, Ironside, Quincy, Falcon Crest, and Remington Steele, and she made sporadic screen appearances in Charley Varrick (1973), Airport ’77 (1977), and The Sting II (1983). In the mid- and late 1980s she reentered the recording studio, issuing the widely acclaimed album Never Let Me Go, whose reception prompted the reissue of her 1950s sides.
A poised interpreter of standards and Broadway material, Lewis possessed a clear, precise vocal timbre whose warmth, gentle vibrato, and latent strength lent individuality to an extensive repertoire. Her son Mike Lang, an established studio musician and composer who has performed with leading jazz artists, played piano on and produced several of her later recordings.
Albums
