Mary Mayo

American actress and singer in the field of jazz, folk, exotica, easy listening and pop music. Born 20 July 1924, Statesville, North Carolina Died 16 December 1985, Manhattan, New York. Married to: [a309330] (Producer at Columbia Records). Mother of singer Lorri Marsters Ham. She was the daughter of professional opera singers Lois Long Riker and Franklin Wing Riker. She studied voice, piano and musical theory at New York's Juilliard School. She had an amazing voice with a range of four octaves. She could sing baritone, tenor, alto soprano and high violin. Mayo first got started as a singer appearing on broadcasts from radio station WBT in Charlotte, North Carolina just after the end of World War Two. Johnny Mercer got her a record contract with Capitol Records. Like that of other session singers, Much of Mayo's work is largely uncredited outside her Musicians Union logs. She ghosted on the "original cast" albums of numerous Broadway musicals. She was a vocalist with Tex Beneke And His Orchestra, did the [a52833] TV Show for one year, guesting with Perry Como, [a322992] on the Hit Parade segments, and featured for a season on CBS Radio's "On A Sunday Afternoon". Her "Moon Gas" LP became a breakthrough jazz classic with her ethereal wordless vocals that she cut with Dick Hyman in 1963. In 1971, she joined the Hillside Singers, and with daughter Lorri, recorded the worldwide Coca-Cola hit "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing". During the 1970s she performed in nightclubs and continued singing with Lorri for productions and commercials.