Mary Ford born July 7, 1924

Mary Ford (July 7, 1924 – September 30, 1977) was an American guitarist and vocalist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hits, including "How High the Moon" and "Vaya con Dios", which were number one hits on the Billboard charts. In 1951 alone they sold six million records. With Paul, Ford became one of the early practitioners of multi-tracking.

Mary Ford was born Iris Colleen Summers in El Monte, California. Her father was a minister, and her mother was Dorothy May White Summers. Mary came from a very musical family. All of Mary's brothers and sisters were musicians. Her parents travelled across the United States. When she was in junior high school, Colleen Summers performed in churches. She sang with a local girl named Mildred "Milly" Watson and later made gospel recordings with Milly's older brother, Marvin. Colleen even wrote some of the songs for these recordings. In 1939, Colleen and Milly won a talent contest in Pasadena. Famous people like a young Judy Garland were judges. They loved music so much that they left school to focus on their musical dreams. They briefly worked as ushers in a movie theater.

By 1943, Colleen Summers joined Vivian Earles and June Widener. They formed a western trio called the Sunshine Girls. They sang backup for Jimmy Wakely and his trio. The Sunshine Girls were regular performers on The Hollywood Barn Dance. This was a popular weekly radio show on CBS Radio. It was broadcast on Saturday nights. In 1944, the Sunshine Girls appeared in a film called I'm from Arkansas. They sang "You Are My Sunshine" in the movie. In 1945, Eddie Dean introduced Colleen Summers to guitarist Les Paul. At this time, she was a popular western singer on radio station KXLA. She and Les Paul began performing together in 1946. Colleen left the Sunshine Girls to work with Paul. Her older sister, Eva, later sang with the other members of the trio.

Colleen Summers also appeared on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch radio show. She was a cast member and featured singer from July to November 1946. From 1946 to 1948, Summers was a regular actor on The All-Star Western Theatre. This was a radio drama program. It was through her career in early country music and connections to singers Gene Autry and Eddie Dean that she joined her future husband’s group, the Les Paul Trio. By 1947, Colleen Summers and Les Paul became a couple. In January 1948, they were in a car accident in Oklahoma. Their car went off the road and fell into a frozen creek. Les Paul was badly hurt. His right elbow was shattered, and it took him 18 months to play guitar again. Colleen moved in with Paul to help him recover from his injuries.

                                   

By 1949, Summers was adopted the stage name Mary Ford after Paul turned to a phone directory to find a short, memorable name to differentiate his partner’s new pop-oriented music from her country past. Under this moniker, she went from a background vocalist to the forefront, singing and playing alongside one of the seminal names in guitar history. That same year, Les Paul and Mary Ford got married. They had a small ceremony in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 29. They later had three children: a baby who passed away shortly after birth in 1954, a fostered daughter named Mary Colleen Paul, and a son named Robert Ralph "Bobby" Paul. After their wedding, Paul and Ford started making radio shows for NBC. One show was called Les Paul and Mary Ford at Home. It was a 15-minute program broadcast every Friday night.

Mary Ford and Les Paul became huge music stars in the early 1950s. They released 28 hit songs for Capitol Records between 1950 and 1957. Some of their famous songs included "Tiger Rag", "Vaya con Dios", "Mockin' Bird Hill", and "How High the Moon". "Vaya con Dios" was number one for 11 weeks, and "How High the Moon" was number one for nine weeks. These songs featured Mary Ford singing harmonies with herself. This gave their music a unique and new sound. Paul and Ford recorded all their music at home or while traveling. They then sent the finished recordings to Capitol Records. Les Paul was very involved in deciding which songs would become hits. They also used a recording technique called close miking. This means the microphone was very close to the singer's mouth. This made the sound more personal and clear. It was a different style from older singing methods.

After touring and recording a lot, the couple moved to New York City. They wanted to move from radio to television. They recorded their famous song "How High The Moon" there. This song had many layers of guitar and Mary's voice, using 12 overdubs. Capitol Records was not sure about releasing it at first. But after more hits like "Tennessee Waltz" and "Mockin' Bird Hill", "How High The Moon" was released in March 1951. Within a month, "How High The Moon" and "Mockin' Bird Hill" were the number one and number two songs on Your Hit Parade. In 1951, Ford and Paul earned a lot of money. They had more top ten hits that year than many other famous artists combined. They also sold over six million records since January 1951. Paul bought a Cadillac for their tours to carry all their equipment. They also bought a home in Mahwah, New Jersey. It had a recording studio and a special echo chamber. In September 1952, Ford and Paul travelled to London. They performed at the Palladium Theatre. They even performed for Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family. 

In 1953, the couple recorded "Vaya con Dios". This became the biggest-selling song of their career. It was number one on the Billboard charts for nine weeks. After the records success, they hosted The Les Paul and Mary Ford Show. This was their own daily television program. It was five minutes long and ran from 1953 to 1960 on NBC television in the mid-1950s, rock and roll music became very popular. This caused the popularity of many performers, including Paul and Ford, to decline. In 1955, they performed a concert at Carnegie Hall. In 1956, they performed at the Eisenhower White House. As rock and roll grew, Ford and Paul's songs appeared less on the charts in the late 1950s. In July 1958, Paul and Ford left Capitol Records and signed with Columbia. However, this move did not bring back their earlier success. They appeared on NBC's Five Star Jubilee in 1961. In November 1963, Mary Ford released her first solo song. It was an English version of "Dominique". By December 1964 Les and Mary were divorced. Around 1965, Mary Ford married Donald Hatfield. She had known him since high school. They settled in Monrovia, California. Mary and her sisters sang on an album called The New Sound of American Folk. This album was recorded at her brother Bobby Summers' studio.

Ford succumbed to complications of alcohol abuse in 1977. After eight weeks in a diabetic coma, she died in Arcadia, California, on September 30, 1977, at the age of 53. She is buried at Forest Lawn-Covina Hills in Covina, California. Engraved on her tombstone, are the words "Vaya con Dios" ("Go with God"), the name of one of her most popular songs.

Mary Ford and Les Paul received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It is located at 1541 Vine Street in Hollywood. In 1978, they were honoured by being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

(Edited from Wikipedia)