In order to prepare for her roll as the hat check girl, “Vicky”, in the musical “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (1954), Marilyn Monroe studied with Hollywood’s go-to-guy for musical coaching, Hal Schaefer. Wishing that she never be known as “a singing pin-up girl”, Monroe was determined to succeed as a singer, and her sessions with him were intense. Schaefer, a protégé of jazz great Duke Ellington, had worked with her earlier on “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” (1953) and she was his willing pupil. In 2010 Schaefer remembered those days, when he urged her to “listen to and try to emulate the voice of Ella Fitzgerald”:
“Ella became Marilyn’s strongest vocal influence. After Marilyn became completely familiar with Ella’s singing, she began to widen her net on her own to bring in other singers she felt might be a positive influence.”
Additional articles concerning the life and career of Marilyn Monroe can be read here.
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