It's My Life - Libby Morris
"Most entertainers are specialists. There are those who sing and those who dance, the comedians, the straight actors, and so forth. Those who are not specialists are usually known by the slightly dubious label of "all round performers", which too often implies that they do a little of everything passably and nothing very well.The "all round performer" who really entertains and who can equal the specialist at his own game is the greatest rarity in show-business. Sammy Davis is the obvious example among the men but when it comes to the ladies one name alone stands out-LIBBY MORRIS!
This abundantly talented lady is a singer who can really sing, a comedienne who can reduce her audiences to helpless paroxysms of laughter and an actress who can take anything from heavy drama to revue in her stride. She is also, as evidenced by the song "Raindrops" on this album, no slouch as a lyric writer.
By the time she was four years old young Libby was already in demand to entertain at parties and local concerts in her home town of Winnipeg, Canada. At school she studied singing and took part in productions of Gilbert and Sullivan Operas. After graduation she went to Toronto and before long her career was really under way with appearances in cabaret and on radio culminating in her own coast-to-coast TV series.
What was intended to be a short visit to Britain resulted in so many invitations to work that Libby stayed on and soon became a firm favourite with British audiences through the medium of such notable TV series as "The Jack Jackson Show", "Two's Company", "Melody Ranch" and her own special "Ad Libby" on BBC 2.
High spots of her career since those days have included such hit stage shows as "Come Blow Your Horn" with Bob Monkhouse and "Ad-Lib" with Larry Adler, cabaret at the Pigalle and The Cool Elephant and her triumph at The Establishment will long be remembered. There have been numerous TV appearances ranging from "On The Braden Beat" to leading roles in Tenrfessee Williams"'The Rose Tattoo"and Edward Albee's "An American Dream" and meaty character parts in films including "Tiara Tahiti" with Jamcs Mason and John Mills and the Audrey Hepburn-Albert Finney "Two for the Road".
It would take a book to do justice to the versatility and talent of Libby Morris and this note is really only concerned with Libby Morris the singer presented on this album.
Listen to the selection of songs. Old favourites like "Thanks for the Memory", the Bob Hope-Shirley Ross hit, and "There's No You" in perfect harmony with gems like the lovely Kurt Weill-lra Gershwin-"My Ship" first introduced by Gertrude Lawrence in "Lady in the Dark", the delightful Sandy Wilson number "It's my Life" which gives the album its title; the pathos of "Crumbs in my Bed" contrasting with the acid of "Yesterday's Idol".
However varied and contrasting the songs and backings one factor stays constant and indisputable-the talent of LIBBY MORRIS the specialist in all she does.
The arrangements are from the pen of young BARRY BOOTH and they range from the big-band-brass of "Everybody Says Don't" to the subtle elegance of "Raindrops".
The album was produced by the old master of the medium DENIS COMPER."
Peter Orchard's sleeve notes
*Baz's Fran Landesman songs
Manufactured in Great Britain by POLYDOR RECORDS LTD, LONDON
Cover Design Paragon Publicity
Illustration Rosemary Honeybourne
Cover Design Paragon Publicity
Illustration Rosemary Honeybourne
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