• Georgia Gibbs was born Frieda Lipschitz in Worcester, Massachusetts USA in 1918.
• She was a popular singer and vocal entertainer, focusing on jazz music.
• She rose to fame in the 1930s and 1940s, singing with various bands and people.
• She was married to Frank Gervasi from the late 50s until his death in 1990.
• She passed away in 2006, leaving behind a net worth of over $1 million.
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Who was IG star Georgia Gibbs? Wiki Bio
Georgia Gibbs was born as Frieda Lipschitz in Worcester, Massachusetts USA on 17 August 1918, her zodiac sign was Leo, and she held American nationality. Georgia was a popular singer and a vocal entertainer who found her place in jazz music. She passed away in 2006.
Early life and education
Georgia was born into a Jewish family, and had a rather tough childhood, as she and her three older siblings were all put into a local Jewish orphanage after their father died when Georgia was only six months old.
She started singing at a very early age and after her talent was noticed in the orphanage, she was chosen as lead singer in the orphanage’s variety show which was organized once every year. Georgia’s mother came to visit her and her other children once a month, and after she found a full-time job, she took Georgia from the orphanage but as she was working a lot, Georgia spent most of her time alone at home, with only a Philco radio for company.
Career as a singer
Georgia launched her singing career at the age of 13 when she moved to Boston, and was allowed to serve as a singer at the Plymouth Theatre, as the manager of the theatre had already heard her sing on the radio, and liked what he heard.
She went on to join the Hudson DeLange Orchestra in 1936 at the age of 17, after which she found work on radio shows such as “The Tim and Irene Show” and “Your Hit Parade”, and during this time between the ‘30s and ‘40s sang with numerous people such as the jazz saxophonist James Hal Kemp, another saxophonist Orie Frank Trumbauer, and trombonist and a composer Thomas Francis ‘Tommy’ Dorsey Jr.
In 1946, she signed with Majestic Records, while her first hit single came in 1950 entitled “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake”. She went on to become featured in several TV shows, such as “Cavalcade of Stars” and “All Star Revue”, and then in 1951 signed a new contract with Mercury Records, which helped her reach #1 on the pop music charts with her single “Kiss Of Fire”.
She signed with RCA Victor in 1957, with more than 40 of her songs finding their way onto the charts, until in 1966 Georgia released her final album entitled “Call Me”, and then retired from singing. rarely performing anywhere after that.
Love life and husband
Georgia met Frank Gervasi at a café during her visit to Paris in the ‘30s, and they spent several days together before going their separate ways and losing touch for the next 12 years. It is unknown how the two ended up meeting one another once again, but it was in the USA, and they eventually married in the late ‘50s.
The marriage lasted until 21 January 1990, when Frank died of a stroke in Manhattan at the age of 81 – the two had a daughter together who died before Georgia.
Frank Gervasi was born in 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland USA, and was a foreign correspondent and an author. He attended the University of Pennsylvania and soon after graduation launched his career as a reporter working for “The Philadelphia Record” daily newspaper, before switching to “The Associated Press” news agency in 1932.
He moved to work in Spain as a foreign correspondent in 1934, covering the Spanish Civil War, before being named Hearst International’s Rome bureau chief.
After that, Frank joined “Collier’s Weekly” magazine soon after World War II began, and went on to cover the fall of the Netherlands, Belgium and then France to the Nazis, before moving to North Africa and then to Southern France with American troops. As soon as the war finished, he began working for the “Washington Post” daily newspaper, and then moved to Italy in 1950 to work as a chief of information for the Marshall Plan.
He was a writer of 10 books, some of which are “The Case for Israel”, “The Violent Decade”, and “The Real Rockefeller”. Frank was married once before Georgia, with Katherine McQuiggan who gave birth to their son Sean Gervasi sometime in the ’40s.
Likes and other interests
Georgia was known as a very social person who enjoyed spending her time surrounded by people, mostly by those who were interested in music and in one way or another involved in the music industry. She was a huge fan of blues and jazz, while she was also good at singing melancholy ballads as well as rock ‘n’ roll and up tempo swing/jazz.
She was a lover of animals and preferred cats over dogs. She didn’t smoke or drink alcohol. She enjoyed travelling and spent years touring with various bands and artists, plus spending years in European countries such as Italy and France, so could have a simple conversation in both French and Italian.
She enjoyed being in TV shows, and was a fan of the TV industry herself. Her favorite movie was “Casablanca” released in 1943, as she was a hopeless romantic, while she was also a fan of the films “Citizen Kane” and “On the Waterfront”.
Appearance and net worth
Georgia died on 9 December 2006 at the age of 88 at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, from complications caused by leukemia, and left behind her grandson Sacha Gervasi from her husband’s first marriage, her brother Robert Gibson, and her nieces Patty Turk and Jody Babydoll Gibson. Georgia was 5ft 5ins (1.65m) tall, she weighed around 121lbs (55kgs), and her net worth was over $1 million at the time of her death.
