Saturday, January 15, 2011

Margaret Whiting Remembered


I was saddened when I returned home from a trip, and had time on the internet, to learn of the death of Margaret Whiting. Buster, at Big 10-Inch Record (http://big10inchrecord.blogspot.com/2011/01/margaret-whitings-first-album.html), posted one of her early albums, perhaps the first. All I can do here is post a photograph I was privileged to take of this fine singer in Albuquerque several years ago.

In my first years in Albuquerque a friend of a friend brought Whiting to New Mexico for several private concerts. During that time I was fortunate enough to meet her, go to dinner with her and her accompanist, Tex Arnold, and to sit in on rehearsals and performances in order to take photographs.

The above was taken during rehearsal; I believe she was singing "Misty" at my request. Forever after, for me at least, it has been a song that she owned.

She was a gracious lady, unfazed by the silly fawning we made around her, seemingly confident in her talent, but by no means impressed with herself. I have long liked the picture of her I am sharing. Others I took are technically better, but this one has always spoken to me, and fits the fond memories I have of those hours.

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful reminiscence, Larry. A great photo, as well. What a terrific talent - this captures her beautifully!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Buster. Her straightforward way with a song was accomplished with great feeling, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I come here by the Buster blog. I love both reminiscences of a great singer. Thanks x share the photo and the memories.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rio Veneno
    Thanks for your kind words.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello, this is Christian Cisternas from Chile. I have discovered your blog and i´m very pleased. Your selection of music is clever and auctoritative... Congratulations!
    By the way, could you give some tips in order to upload files to some server as Mediafire?. I have a rather small collections of classical vinyls I want to share in te web.

    Thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  6. Saludos desde Chile...
    Excelente trabajo, sigan así...
    Long life to the vynil )...pardon my english...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Christián: Thanks for your comments. About Mediafire: the only pertinent tip I can give is that one must upload files rather than folders. If several files are put in a folder, the folder must then be zipped to create an uploadable file. I've liked Mediafire. Files occasionally do become corrupted on their server and must be re-uploaded, but it's easy to use for both the person posting the file and the person downloading it.

    ReplyDelete