Three Tune Tuesday ~ Mary Ford ~ Birthday Girl #98

Welcome to my #TTT #ThreeTuneTuesday entry!

Good afternoon, everyone!

Welcome to another weekly post—as always on Tuesdays, and as has become customary—in which I share three songs by an artist who is celebrating, or would be celebrating, another year of life today.

This routine has led me to discover many different artists, which is fantastic because it takes me out of my comfort zone, allowing me to get to know them—sometimes superficially, other times not so much—since I end up following and exploring each artist’s body of work more deeply in the future.

Today I want to talk about an artist who was born in 1924 in California. Iris Colleen Summers—better known as Mary Ford—had extensive experience singing and performing in various churches in Pasadena, California, during her youth. In 1945, she was introduced to the famous guitarist Les Paul, and they began performing together the following year. In 1947, they became romantically involved. In January 1948, they were involved in a serious car accident in which the car they were traveling in plunged six meters into a frozen lake in Oklahoma. The accident left the guitarist with a severe injury to his right elbow, leading to a grueling 18-month recovery before he could play again.

Throughout their lives, they shared many important moments, from choosing the stage name “Summers” to their marriage in December 1949. They had three children from that marriage.

Les Paul and Mary Ford became very famous for their numerous radio programs on NBC, including a weekly 15-minute show that aired every Friday.

In the early 1950s, Les Paul and Ford rose to fame, achieving numerous successes, with at least 28 hit songs on the Capitol Records charts between 1950 and 1957.

Ford used a previously unknown technique in which she sang with the microphone closer to her, creating a very intimate tone—a style later popularized by other artists and becoming one of the standard techniques for melodic singers. This recording method also captured lower-frequency sounds, resulting in a voice with much more body and warmth.

With an unmistakable and very harmonious voice, Ford and Paul managed to earn about half a million dollars in 1951, scoring more than ten major hits, including duets with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra, among others.

With the rise of rock and roll during the 1950s, the couple began to lose their prominence and see a decline in album and single sales.

In 1977, Ford died at the age of 53 due to health complications related to alcohol consumption.

There is much more that could be written about the couple and the group, but if you’re interested, you can read more in the Wikipedia article I used as a source to write this post.

I’ll leave you now with three songs I’ve chosen. There’s no particular reason for my selection, other than one thing they have in common: they are songs I felt would do justice to the reputation and talent of these two artists.