 ANITA O'DAY
Anita O'Day. The Jezabel of Jazz. Sounds cool doesn't it? Thats becasue Anita O'Day is one of the coolest white women in musical history. She was the first singer to record for the legendary Verve Records (This Is Anita, 1955) just a little bit before Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday.
She was the epitome of jazz cool in a female form. SO much more a "vocalist" than a songbird, she often opted to wear the same getup as the band rather than attention-grabbing evening gowns.
Anita was a natural jazz drummer and you can hear her inate sense of rhythm in her singing and scatting. A bebop trailblazer, her voice tripped along the beat at all times. She was all about creative timing.
Like so many jazz artists Anita was a wee bit tortured. The Jezebel of Jazz moniker came from her long term heroin addiction and her general loose morals. Just as she liked to be equal with the boys on stage, she liked to mix it with them off stage. She went to jail twice for drugs and liked to get up to no good but managed to live till the ripe old age of 87, dying of heart failure in 2006.
One of the best examples of Anita's unique and damn cool style is her stunning rendition of Sweet Georgia Brown from the famous 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. Sorry to say but it looks like the heroin may have done her good... Anita O'Day was as high as a kite during this performance.
BOBBIE GENTRY
 Those who have heard of Bobbie Gentry might think of her as a one hit wonder. I guess literally she was, but so many of her other songs kicked arse. That "one hit" was Ode To Billie Joe, a sparse and dark classic about suicide and abortion. Grizzly stuff for a 1967 number one smash hit.
After this track took her to the top, winning her 3 Grammys, Bobbie dissappeared into relative obscurity (besides a few minor hits and a four episode TV show in the UK a few years later).
Bobbie Gentry grew up in Chickasaw Couty Mississippi in the care of her grandparents and learnt an independance and insight into family life that can be heard in much of her music. She was one of the first women in country music to write and record her own songs, thus setting a course for many important female artists to follow.
Bobbie didnt just stick to country music however. Many of her best songs sound like they came straight out of the Stax or Motown stables, while others are dirty go-go jams or just straight up soul.
Yes she did have some pretty appalling numbers too, especially when she let the razzle dazzle of her showgirl past come back to haunt her. But all in all Bobbie was a bloody sexy, strong and often dark unsung diva of the last century.
Nick Maher
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