{{Short description|American singer (1916–2002)}} {{infobox musical artist | name = Dolly Dawn | birth_name = Theresa Anna Maria Stabile | birth_place = Newark, New Jersey, United States | birth_date = February 3 1916 | death_place = Englewood, New Jersey, United States | death_date = December 11 2002 (aged 86) | occupation = Musician | instrument = Vocals | genre = Big Band | years_active = 1930s - 1981 | label = RCA Records }}
'''Dolly Dawn''' (born '''Theresa Anna Maria Stabile'''; February 3, 1916 – December 11, 2002)<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=allmusic/> was an American big band singer. She was vocalist with George Hall's Hotel Taft Orchestra in the 1930s, and later had a solo career.
==Biography== Dawn was born Theresa Anna Maria Stabile in Newark, New Jersey, on February 3 1916, and grew up in Montclair, New Jersey. Her parents were Italian immigrants; the jazz saxophonist Dick Stabile was a cousin.<ref name="nytimes">{{Cite news |last=Martin |first=Douglas |date=2002-12-18 |title=Dolly Dawn, 86, Who Sang Center Stage in the Big Band Era |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/18/arts/dolly-dawn-86-who-sang-center-stage-in-the-big-band-era.html |access-date=2025-01-30 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
Dawn initially used stage name '''Billie Starr''', and appeared weekly on a local radio show. In 1935 she replaced Loretta Lee as vocalist with George Hall's orchestra; she was given the name Dolly Dawn by Harriet Mencken, a writer for the ''New York Journal-American''. She and the band broadcast six days a week from the Grill Room of the Taft Hotel in New York via CBS Radio, and became very popular. Her most successful song with the band was "You're a Sweetheart", released in 1938.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=allmusic>{{AllMusic|id=dolly-dawn-mn0000172847|title=Dolly Dawn|accessdate=January 1, 2019}}</ref><ref name=hall>{{AllMusic|id=george-hall-mn0000648276|title=George Hall|accessdate=January 3, 2019}}</ref>
On July 4, 1941, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York, George Hall officially turned the band over to her, and became her manager; the band was renamed "Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol".<ref name=nytimes/><ref name="simon">{{Cite book |last=Simon |first=George T. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gj4DAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT372 |title=The Big Bands |date=2012-03-08 |publisher=Schirmer Trade Books |isbn=978-0-85712-812-6 |language=en}}</ref> From 1942 she continued without the band, whose members were drafted during the Second World War. She appeared in clubs and dance halls and in other engagements throughout the US, and continued to record into the 1950s.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=allmusic/>
Resuming her career in 1976,<ref name=":0">{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=John S. |title=Pop: Dolly Dawn at Marty's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/02/17/archives/pop-dolly-dawn-at-martys.html |access-date=February 16, 2026 |work=The New York Times |date=February 17, 1980 |page=64 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Dawn performed in nightclubs, reprising songs from the big-band era. A review in ''The New York Times'' mentioned her "relaxed, unpretentious, straightforward manner of singing" as she performed with only a piano for accompaniment in 1978.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wilson |first1=John S. |title=Pop: 'Dolly Dawn' Sings Again |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/02/archives/pop-dolly-dawn-sings-again.html |access-date=February 16, 2026 |work=The New York Times |date=June 2, 1978 |page=C 3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> A 1980 review noted improvement after "several relatively unimpressive appearances" and the addition of bass and drums to the piano accompaniment. The review commended her technique of adapting her style to each song.<ref name=":0" />
A two LP compilation of Dolly Dawn's recordings with George Hall was issued by RCA Records in 1976, which led to appearances at jazz clubs and cabarets in New York. She recorded two new albums: ''Smooth as Silk'', and in 1981 ''Memories of You''.<ref name=nytimes/><ref name=allmusic/>
Ella Fitzgerald said that Dawn was an influence on her own singing. On February 4, 1998, Dolly Dawn was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame in West Palm Beach, Florida.<ref name=allmusic/> She did not marry; she said her music was her husband and children. She died on December 11 2002, aged 86, from kidney failure at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey.<ref name=nytimes/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|0206002}} * [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/talent/detail/123857/Dawn_Dolly_vocalist Dolly Dawn (vocalist)] at Discography of American Historical Recordings * {{Cite web |title=Dolly Dawn, "The Champagne of Big Band Singers" |url=https://www.petersando.com/dollyd.html |access-date=2025-01-30 |website=www.petersando.com}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawn, Dolly}} Category:1916 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Singers from Newark, New Jersey Category:Big band singers Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers