Lodi Carr - "Ladybird"

Wow. How could I have begun this whole project without hearing of this girl?

Marquette-born Lodi began singing professionally in Detroit in the early 1950s; she moved to New York in '56, and in '58 she became one of the first acts signed to Laurie Records (future home of Dion, the Royal Guardsmen, and other hitmakers). The title track of her Laurie LP became her nickname - Ladybird.

In 1961, after marrying and having a child, Lodi gave up performing for more than 20 years, returning in the early 1980s. For several years she was a headliner at New York's Village Gate, and from all reports this gracefully-aged (she's in her mid-seventies) Ladybird still knocks 'em dead. Her LP is now available on CD.