Janette Davis born 2 November 1916

Janette Davis (November2, 1916- April 25, 2005) was a 20th-century American pop singer, noted particularly for her work for Arthur Godfrey.

Dorothy Janette Marguerite Davis was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the eldest of eight children. Her full name is Dorothy Janette Marguerite Davis. She began her musical efforts in Pine Bluff, Arkansas public schools. At fourteen, she entered and won

an amateur contest and was awarded a radio contract at a Memphis station, driving a 200-mile trip for each program. Moving to Quincy, Illinois to sing at a local station, she simultaneously began a music-studies course. During that time her nick name was Jan The Pride of Pine Bluff.

After a stint at a Shreveport, Louisiana station she began to receive offers from other stations but held off until her goal of working in Cincinnati could be realized. In 1939 she won a spot on NBC’s Red Skelton Avalon Time, sponsored by Avalon cigarettes. Skelton was then fairly popular but his big success was right around the corner. All Janette did was sing one pretty song per program and, at age 23, her voice was at least a full octave higher than she’d sound seven years later on the Arthur Godfrey shows. 

She seemed to be imitating the dozens of lesser Big Band sound-alike girl singers of that era. As she matured, so did her voice and her style. ((She married Robert Jenson in 1939 which lasted to 1945.)

Next stop: Chicago, where she regularly sang both on NBC's Don McNeil's Breakfast Club and Garry Moore's Club Matinee. Both of these network shows also featured The Four Vagabonds, an African-American quartet similar to The Mills Brothers. It was during these shows that Janette and the Vagabonds crossed paths. At some point in 1943 she recorded at least ten Radio Transcriptions, with The Vagabonds providing the backup harmonies. They were billed simply as “The Four Vagabonds and Janette.” Such transcriptions could then be used on various musical and disc jockey radio programs without the actual singers even being there.

In January, 1944, she moved to a CBS station in Chicago, WBBM, singing on the Petrillo, Janette and MacCormack network show, as well as The King's Jesters and Janette, Serenade and Swing, Jobs for GI Joe and Victory Matinee.

After all this traveling she was finally able to unpack her suitcases permanently when she moved to New York as a radio staff singer on CBS. This was a life-changer. Arthur Godfrey, who'd just begun his daily network Arthur Godfrey Time morning show, was then looking for a regular female vocalist. He'd heard Janette sing, liked her voice & hired her sight unseen in April, 1946 as his first, and foremost, singing star of "Arthur Godfrey Time" (1946-1957) and "Arthur Godfrey and His Friends" (1949-1957). In 1947–1948 she had her own 15-minute radio show; her theme song was "I'll Get By". She appeared on programs and recorded the hillbilly song "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded" which became her biggest hit.

                               

The Godfrey show was an unscripted, free-wheeling affair with a live audience, chatting about news of the day and whatever else crossed his mind, wisecracking with orchestra leader Archie Bleyer, announcer Tony Marvin, resident "boy singer" Marshall Young (soon replaced by Bill Lawrence), the Mariners quartet, and Janette.

She loved to help new talent and, behind the scenes, had long coached many of the performers who appeared on Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" program. Among the performers who got their big break by appearing on this show were: Vic Damone, Eddie Fisher, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Patsy Cline, The McGuire Sisters, Pat Boone, Jonathan Winters and Don Knotts. In 1956, in response to declining ratings, Godfrey made Janette the producer of that program. She immediately instituted a number of improvements for the benefit of the performers, including a West Coast audition studio (in addition to the one in New York and better production values. It helped, but not enough. CBS cancelled the show, and Janette retired for good.

Davis sang the Carolina Rice jingle, which ran nationally from the late 1940s well into the mid 1950s; she called it "my biggest hit record"  On Oct. 17, 1957, she married Frank Musiello, formerly a musician on the Godfrey shows and then Janette's associate producer on Talent Scouts. They moved to Naples, Florida and Janette never sang another note professionally.

Janette and Frank moved to Naples, Florida which is where she died on April 25, 2005. She had two children.

(Edited from janettedavis.net, Wikipedia & IMDB)

"The Cherry Sisters" trio (as named by Janette) accompanying Janette in this video is leader Archie Bleyer, trombonist Sy Schaffer & clarinetist Johnny Mince.