Roberta Sherwood born 1 July 1913

Roberta Sherwood (July 1, 1913i – July 5, 1999) was an American singer, notable in part for her sudden rise to fame at the age of 43. She recorded many albums, appeared frequently on television, and sang at many of America's top nightclubs in the late 1950's and the 1960's.

Marjorie Roberta Sherwood was born in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Her father Robert

Sherwood was the manager of a travelling minstrel show; she and her sister Anne were raised on the road after their mother died. Roberta started performing in vaudeville at age 11, and the sisters soon became a vaudeville and nightclub act. In 1932 they met Broadway actor Don Lanning, who mentored Roberta and ultimately married her in 1938. They both abandoned careers to settle in Miami, opening a small nightclub where she continued to perform. After the restaurant lost its lease, they got a concession to operate a hotel lounge. In 1953 Don was diagnosed with lung cancer and lost their concession. After an attempt to start another nightclub failed, Sherwood began to seriously pursue her career.

For several years she met with little success. It was not until 1956, with her husband dying from cancer and a family to feed, that Miss Sherwood's career took off. A trip to Las Vegas, where she stayed with family friend Gene Austin, failed to advance her career. Initially passed over as too old to perform, she sang in third-rate bars around Miami, until she landed an engagement at Murray Franklin’s off-beat Miami Beach nightclub. Her pay: $150 per week.

Murray Franklin with Roberta

Soon, people packed the bar to hear the woman with the glasses who banged on a battered cymbal while she sang.. The comedian Red Buttons became a fan and brought columnist Walter Winchell to see her; he gave her rave reviews. Soon she was performing in clubs nationwide and had a contract with Decca Records. She was profiled in Life magazine in October. A November 1956 Billboard poll of DJs picked her as the 19th most popular "album artist" and #8 on a list of "Most Promising Female Vocalists".

Roberta with Arthur Godfrey

Soon Miss Sherwood was earning up to $5,000 a week at the nation's top nightclubs and was signed by Decca Records. She appeared at New York's Copacabana, made the rounds at the major clubs in Las Vegas and opened in Hollywood to an enthusiastic reception. Over the years, she appeared with such stars as Mickey Rooney, Don Rickles and Milton Berle. Sherwood was usually 
described as a torch singer; she appeared on stage in a sweater and glasses, and used a cymbal held in her hand for accompaniment. Time Life described her as "flashy, richly sentimental, as unsubtle as her crashing cymbal and as unpretentious as her $49.50 dress".

Roberta with Elvis

Miss Sherwood's repertory included such songs as ''You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry,'' ''Gee, But I Hate to Go Home Alone'' and ''Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.'' She was modest about her art. ''I just sing loud,'' she said in an interview in 1956, ''and I've got a good ear. I pick up tunes easily. I must know a couple thousand songs, all kinds. All I do is step out there and belt out a mess of songs, no special material, no gimmicks. I just sing and shuffle around. Actually, my act is a bigger strain on my shoe leather than my voice.''

                             

Surprisingly her only charting hit was "Lazy River", which hit #57 on the Hot 100 in 1956 – but she continued to have a singing and recording career into the 1970s. Her recordings apparently did well in the jukeboxes, which explain why they continued to appear. She appeared four times on The Ed Sullivan Show and  
on many other variety shows of the late 1950s. She appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show, as a singer. She was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow on Person to Person.

Sherwood was an occasional actress, appearing in a 1957 TV movie about the early life of George M. Cohan entitled "Mr. Broadway," in which she co-starred with Mickey Rooney, James Dunn, Gloria DeHaven and June Havoc, sporadically in the 1960s.. She appeared once on Joey Bishop's sitcom and talk show. She also appeared with her sons on a memorable 1964 Lucy Show 

with Lucille Ball as well as The Donna Reed Show. She continued to headline nightclubs into the late 1970s and toured in a variety show with Cyd Charisse, Anna Maria Alberghetti, and others and as late as 1978 had a bit part in an episode of The Incredible Hulk playing "Mrs. Waverly" in an episode titled "Earthquakes Happen".

Her last known Miami appearance was in October 1980 at the Gusman Performing Arts Center’s “Noontime Lively Arts Series.” She received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Film Welfare League in 1985. She toured nationally with the Russ Morgan Orchestra through 1983 and performed in Los Angeles well into the early 1990s and recorded a final album, "The Tribute Collection", in 1992, produced by her son Don.

She spent her last years at her Sherman Oaks apartment in California where, surrounded by family and friends, died at age 86 on  July 5, 1999.  (Edited from Wikipedia & The NY Times)

Roberta Sherwood sings her great hits and is joined by sons Jerry, Don and Robert Lanning in this half-hour TV special from 1965.