Charlene Bartley born circa 1922

Charlene Bartley (born circa 1922 - ?) was a big band and jazz singer who was based in Boston and was a regular entertainer in Boston hotels that hosted live music in their lounges in the 40's and 50's. 

The exact birth date of Charlene Bartley is not known but possibly prior to 1922 as although there is no information regarding her early life; her trail starts off on March 3, 1938, when she married a truck driver Raymond Bartley. They had a daughter named Joyce Lee who was 8-years-old when they divorced in 1946. At that time it was reported that Ms. Bartley was 26-years-old, so either she married quite young or she shaved a few years off her age. If the latter is the case, she would have been born earlier than 1922. It is not known whether Charlene was her birth name, but Bartley was her married name. Of course, she could have gotten married again and no longer went by the name Bartley. 

What is known is that as a singer, she hailed from Los Angeles, and the Boston bandleader Al Donahue initially brought her back East. Donahue hired Bartley in California in late 1947. They recorded a few sides on the Tune-Disk label just before the second recording ban took effect. One of them, “My Old Fashioned Gal,” ended up on the Boston Crystal-Tone label (Crystal-Tone 523) in 1948. Donahue was back in Boston, with Bartley singing, in 1949. 

Bartley toured with Donahue in the early 1950s, but when he relocated to the Sunshine State permanently, she gave up the road and settled in Boston although during 1954 she appeared for one appearance on the Al Donahue TV show. He held an annual residence at the Statler Hotel, and Bartley sang with him there through 1957. She also recorded a single on his Aldon Records label in 1956, but by that time she was on the staff at Boston’s WHDH-AM. There she met guitarist Don Alessi, one of the Park Squares, a vocal-and-instrumental group then providing music on both radio and television broadcasts. 

                                   

The Park Squares were real pros, playing everything from The New England Farm and Food Show in the afternoon, to John McLellan’s Jazz Scene in the evening. One of their daily radio shows was One to Two, with Charlene Bartley as the staff singer. That’s when she came to the attention of someone from A&R at RCA, and an album was in the works. The Weekend of a Private Secretary, was released in 1957. It’s the story in song of a woman who weekends in Havana, finds romance, and returns home sadder but wiser. 

RCA brought some of its leading talent to the project, with four songs arranged by Tito Puente and performed by his orchestra. Saxophonist Hal McKusick arranged four more, and performed them with a small group. The duo of Alessi and bassist Milt Hinton performed the final four.  Alessi, in fact, played on all twelve numbers. The title tune, backed by Puente’s orchestra, has a catchy rhythm to go with Johnny Mercer’s lyrics, but for the most part Bartley sings ballads, including “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance,” and “Memories of You.” 

The record did not create much excitement. Wrote Billboard’s reviewer: “Charlene Bartley has a sweet, fresh vocal sound but doesn’t do much with it on this package of standards.” Her singing was warm, and free from embellishment, but that didn’t attract attention in 1957. The jazz-pop continuum was teeming with singers… Teddi King, Kathy Barr, Lucy Ann Polk, Helen Grayco, Audrey Morris, Jaye P. Morgan, Ann Gilbert… all worthy voices, and all with LPs out in 1957. Bartley’s record just didn’t stand out from the crowd. 

Then the Bartley story took a mysterious turn, she dropped from sight after a visit to Los Angeles the summer of 1958, until she was reported in the December 31, 1961 edition of “The Boston Globe” that she was performing at the Meadows in Framingham. There have also been unconfirmed reports of her living in the area in the late 1980s after which there is no information regarding what became of her.

(Edited mainly from an article by Richard Vacca & IMDb)