Anita Boyer

Anita Blanch Boyer Dukoff, known as Anita Boyer (25 October 1915 in Carmi, Illinois – 17 March 1985 in South Miami, Florida) was an American singer of the Big Band Era, described by Billboard as "one of the music business's most proficient canaries". She was noted for performances with Tommy Dorsey, Leo Reisman (1940–41), Artie Shaw (1940), Nat King Cole (1941–44), Jerry Wald (1942–43) and Hoagy Carmichael (1945). With Dorsey she helped popularize the song "I Concentrate On You", and with Reisman she recorded the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" for Pal Joey.

In the 1950s, Boyer became a songwriter, and she wrote songs such as "I Foresee In the Future" and "I Gambled with Love" with Paul Weirick in 1954. She finally settled in the Miami area with her second husband, saxophonist, composer, audio engineer and mouthpiece maker Bobby Dukoff.

Early life and work Boyer was born in Carmi, Illinois on 25 October 1915. Her father was a surgeon in the Army. She began as a singer on the WMSK radio station in Dayton, Ohio, before enrolling in a voice course at Northwestern University in Chicago. Before she finished her course, she signed with Frankie Masters. She began singing on other radio shows, joined Chicago radio station WGN and joined the New York theatre circuit.

Career Boyer married trumpeter Dick Barrie in 1934, and in April 1936 she began singing with his new band. By this time she had become known for her singing on the NBC Jamboree, Funnybone Follies, Cinderella on Broadway and various Mutual Network shows. Boyer made a number of recordings with Barrie until she left the band in the summer of 1939. She had divorced Barrie by the end of 1941. In October 1939 Boyer replaced Edythe Wright as the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra's singer. the appointment was short-lived, and she left in January 1940 to sign with Paramount Pictures to appear in several musical short films. After briefly singing with Nat Shilkret from April 1940 and Leo Reisman from July 1940, in the September she joined Artie Shaw's band. Boyer rejoined Reisman early in 1941, made several solo recordings, including "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" for Pal Joey, and featured on CBS and NBC radio. Before Christmas 1941, Boyer recorded "Get Hep" and a version of Pepsi's tune "Swinging the Jingle" with the Johnny Fosdick Orchestra and released it as a single, but both songs contained mentions of Pepsi and dukebox operators shunned the record for blatant advertising. While performing with Wald's band in Cleveland, Ohio the same month, $1800 in jewelry, $100 in war bonds, and two bankbooks were stolen from her room at the Carter Hotel. She replaced Kitty Kallen as the singer for the Harry James Orchestra for about six weeks from the November. In early 1946, she recorded with Peggy Lee for the Walt Disney animated picture Make Mine Music. She sang with Opie Cates and worked with Red Nichols.

Later career On May 17, 1947, Boyer gave birth to a daughter and retired from the industry, though made several recordings with Tempo Records in 1948. She later relaunched her career in the 1950s as a songwriter and singing on the night club circuit. Country music star Grandpa Jones recorded one of her songs. Boyer had her own radio show on the Mutual network in 1952 to 1953 and recorded with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra in 1953. She recorded several R&B songs for Columbia Records in 1955. opening a studio at their home in Kendall, Florida. The couple had one daughter, Deerdra, and three grandchildren: Kristina, Robert and Brandon. In 1974, her husband resumed his saxophone mouthpiece business from his workshop in Kendall. Boyer died on 17 March 1985 in South Miami, Florida.