Eartha Kitt

Hey cats and kittens have you heard of Eartha Kitt?

This was a tiger who was purrrrr-fectly sexy, with a very unique voice. Nowadays, a lot of indie rock that gets embraced sounds to me like it was churned out by the same kegeling monster. There's a certain blahness and lack of originality to a lot of the bands revered by teens and young adults alike. It's just a general indie rock aesthetic, and when artists like Antony and the Johnsons or Joanna Newsom come out with different voices, ears perk up and people lean forward because-jeepers! This is some music that actually sounds different.

Eartha Kitt was born on a cotton plantation. No, she wasn't a slave (though she claims to have been conceived through rape). She was mixed, her father being of German-Dutch descent and her mother Cherokee and African-American. Kitt started off as an actress, debuting in 1948's "Cashbah." Her first starring role was given to her by Orson Welles-she played Helen of Troy in his production of Faustus. 1954 was the year "Santa Baby" and "C'est si Bon" were released. Fluent in French, it is easy to hear the European influence in Kitt's style. She released a number of albums throughout the years, starting in 1952 and continuing  to 1990...a seemingly thorough discography of her singles and albums if available for your viewing pleasure here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eartha_Kitt_discography

I adore Eartha because she was so unique and beautiful. She defied conventional beauty accepted at that time  on multiple platforms and was just downright SEXY!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS02GeKuWQ4

You can listen to a few of her songs for free on lastfm here: http://www.last.fm/music/Eartha+Kitt

Kitt died in 2008 at the age of 81 but her contributions to film and music were groundbreaking as a woman of color. Her music will live on fo'sho because how could it not when it's so fantastic (don't burst my idealistic bubble, please). So spread the word and buy one of her albums-I recommend Eartha-Quake (Disc One). 

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Some Bob Boblaw: This was a blog inspired by my friend Jake B, who on Facebook questioned me, "What's an old-timey seduction song?" As previously stated, my vision for this blog is to feature artists that I personally feel have been overlooked by my generation. As a 21 year old, I love talking with people about music but my fellow peers seem most interested in that which is modern. Some enjoy tunes from the 70s and 80s, or occasionally reminisce about Nirvana even though they were only a few years old when Kurt Cobain died. I think it has a lot to do with what music your parents listened to growing up. I'm really grateful for my father, who introduced me as a toddler to Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Frankie Vallie and the 4 Seasons...these were my favorite bands as a child, because this was the music I was exposed to. Thus I can listen to a song by The Doors and feel nostalgic, even though I wasn't around Morrison was. Anyway, that's what got me thinking about Eartha. She was a vixen if there ever was one and I would love for more people to be exposed to her Awesome.