Betty Johnson, Elisabeth Gray & Lydia Gray - Three Shades Of Gray

Size: 99,3 MB
Time: 31:48
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2010
Styles: Jazz/Pop Vocals
Art: Front

01. Mood Indigo (Betty Johnson, Elisabeth Gray & Lydia Gray) (2:41)
02. It Had To Be You (Betty Johnson) (2:14)
03. I've Grown Accustomed To His Face (Betty Johnson) (1:57)
04. Our Love Is Here To Stay (Betty Johnson & Elisabeth Gray) (2:40)
05. Someone To Watch Over Me (Lydia Gray) (3:28)
06. Little Girl Blue (Elisabeth Gray) (4:02)
07. Why Did I Choose You (Betty Johnson) (2:21)
08. Moon Glow (Betty Johnson, Elisabeth Gray & Lydia Gray) (2:57)
09. He Was Too Good To Me (Betty Johnson) (2:21)
10. I'll Be Seeing You (Lydia Gray) (2:30)
11. Time After Time (Betty Johnson & Elisabeth Gray) (2:16)
12. Danny Boy (Betty Johnson, Elisabeth Gray & Lydia Gray) (2:13)

So many people have such fond memories of Betty Johnson’s angelic voice; whether it was listening to her sweet solos as a young girl with her gospel singing family, The Johnson Family Singers, or following her solo career in the 1950’s with catchy hits like “The Little Blue Man” and “I Dreamed.”

Betty’s daughters, Lydia and Elisabeth Gray, are also singers in their own right. Both have recorded several cds and enjoy active singing schedules: Lydia in The USA and Elisabeth in Europe. While Lydia and Elisabeth record and perform both modern songs as well as standards, they agree that singing the oldies with their mother is the greatest of privileges and pleasures; her total control of harmony and interpretation, as well as her now rich, mellow voice, make her the ideal singing partner. They feel so blessed to have a mother who is not only the most talented singer they know, but the best mother they could have imagined. Their songs are infused with the kind of love and connection unique to a close-knit family. The three hope to continue making memories for people of all generations, all over the world.

Three Shades Of Gray

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Betty Johnson - The Take Five Sessions

Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 31:27
Size: 72.0 MB
Styles: Cabaret, Standards
Year: 1995/2008
Art: Front

[1:04] 1. It's Been A Long, Long Time
[0:58] 2. After You've Gone
[1:31] 3. Two Faces In The Dark
[1:24] 4. September Song
[1:30] 5. That Old Feeling
[1:41] 6. I'm Confessin' That I Love You
[1:01] 7. You Are In Love
[1:03] 8. Somebody Loves Me
[2:40] 9. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
[1:19] 10. I Concentrate On You
[1:18] 11. Everybody Loves A Lover
[1:21] 12. Lazy River
[1:43] 13. You Go To My Head
[1:30] 14. So Rare
[1:42] 15. The Party's Over
[1:30] 16. Whispering
[1:03] 17. Taking A Chance On Love
[1:04] 18. Just In Time
[1:08] 19. Comes Love
[1:48] 20. Once In A While
[1:40] 21. I Only Have Eyes For You
[1:19] 22. Sand In My Shoes

Betty Johnson's first career in music coincided with the music career of her family, the Johnson Family Singers. Starting in 1938 and throughout the 1940s, the young soprano sang hymns with her parents and three brothers. The family had a daily broadcast on the powerful WBT radio in Charlotte, North Carolina and appeared at churches, military bases, and all-night sings throughout the South. Singing in the vein of the Carter Family and Speer Family, the Johnsons garnered enough attention to appear on the Grand Ole Opry and record for RCA-Victor and Columbia records.

As the 1950s dawned, Betty charted a course that would take her away from the Johnson Family Singers and toward popular music stylings. In New York City, Johnson shared the top prize on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and also found a regular Sunday evening radio job singing with the CBS orchestra as well as a Saturday morning spot on the Galen Drake Show.

Johnson kept a breathless pace. In addition to her recordings and television, she was the spokeswoman for Borden dairy products and starred in summer stock performances of Brigadoon, The King And I and South Pacific. She met live dates at the Copacabana in New York, the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, the Drake Hotel in Chicago, the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, the Sands in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, and other clubs around the nation.

Betty Johnson works hard on her third career in music, a career that's defined by pop standards and cabaret performances. Betty draws from the Johnson Family Singers who groomed her voice and a 1950s solo tenure that proved her ability to sell whimsical pop records in the midst of the rock revolution. She presses on in the 1990s. "I feel like I'm about 23 years old. I feel very young because this is all so challenging for me and a little scary and very rewarding." -- Adapted from Discoveries Magazine

The Take Five Sessions

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Betty Johnson - Family Affair

Size: 105,7 MB
Time: 44:50
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1995
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. Baubles, Bangles And Beads (2:24)
02. Let Me Love You (2:34)
03. How Deep Is The Ocean (2:56)
04. I'm Confessin' (2:32)
05. Speak Low (3:03)
06. The Very Thought Of You (Lydia Gray) (2:12)
07. Tea For Two (Elizabeth Gray) (2:48)
08. First Warm Day/My Love Is A Wanderer (2:55)
09. Mean To Me (Lydia Gray) (2:32)
10. So In Love (2:57)
11. S'wonderful/Time After Time (4:18)
12. Besame Mucho (3:24)
13. Autumn Leaves (3:03)
14. Spring Is Here (Lydia Gray) (3:01)
15. Today I Love Everybody (2:00)
16. In The Garden (2:02)

When Betty Johnson returned to the limelight in 1993 after a thirty-year pause, she reminded America that she had come from a singing-family tradition. A Family Affair, the first release of new Betty Johnson material after her comeback, featured prominently her daughters Lydia and Elisabeth. Professional singers in their own right, their lovely and sophisticated voices left no doubt that they dwelt vibrantly in the Johnson Family realm.

It was natural that Betty Johnson featured her daughters on the album as Betty herself had sung in a family fold as a child. Betty first touched audiences in the late 1930s and 1940s as a member of the popular Johnson Family Singers. Throughout the South and beyond, the Family sang sacred music with unchained enthusiasm, becoming one of the most popular family acts of the era.

In A Family Affair, Betty has carried on the tradition, bringing the Johnson Family sound into its seventh decade. Highlights from this collection include “The Very Thought of You,” “Today I Love Everybody,” and “How Deep is the Ocean” (which Betty sang on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts in the early 1950s).

Family Affair

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