Introducing Roberta Sherwood

Cry Me A River

Introducing Roberta Sherwood
Vocal with Accompaniment
Directed by Jack Pleis
Decca Records DL 8319

From the back cover: This is a story of a singer who was so good that by word-of-mouth alone, her enthralled audiences pushed her into the Big Time. Singing in a Miami Beach night-spot called Murray Franklin's Lounge, Roberta Sherwood gradually developed a host of admires who seemed to have a great deal to say in her behalf. It wasn't long before word of this unusually gifted song-stylist reached important show people and influential columnists.

Roberta Sherwood show every promise of becoming a singing star of the first magnitude and very soon, at that. She is a real virtuoso. She has a style and voice-sound that is immediately recognizable and unmistakably her own. It is impossible to type her or describe whom she sounds like or suggest, on first hearing. Ask anyone who has heard her of whom he is reminded, and you will receive as many wide and varied responses: "She sounds like Ethel Merman and Tommy Lyman wailing The Torch." says Walter Winchell. According to Louis Sobol: "For the quality of her voice, you will have to conjure up a blend of the best of Libby Holman, when Libby was at her best, Dinah Shore, and Doris Day. No tricks, no over-arrangements – but an effortless delivery that holds the customers spellbound and keeps them clamoring for more". Says Variety: "One minute she can conjure up a Billie Holliday, the next a Judy Garland. And as a femme variation of a Billy Daniels she can toss in her own brand of extras."

All agree on one salient point; her phenomenal versatility. She can and does sing anything and everything – from hillbilly to the most sophisticated ballads, from rock 'n roll to spirituals, from the most dramatic standard to the latest pop hit.

Roberta Sherwood has been a part of show business all her life. She was born in St. Louis, but because her parents were int he entertainment field, she spent her childhood living out of trunks on tours all over the country. Although the Sherwood family never hit the Bit Time, they were always active. Roberta made her professional debut at the age of five. At that time she and her younger sister Anne did a duet – starting with a dancing act and later adding singing to their routines.

When Roberta's parents died, she and Anne continued to troupe. Then Roberta met and married Don Lanning. Lanning, who hails from Ohio, is an ex-actor who had played leads in several Broadway shows. He retired from show business and the couple settled in Florida. Roberta continued to sing occasionally, first in a restaurant-lounge her husband owned, then in other nightspots in and around Miami. She refused to take bookings that would make traveling necessary – not wanting her three sons, Don, Jerry and Bobby, to have the same kind of disrupted childhood she had known.

It was at Murray Franklin's Lounge that her great appeal really became manifest. It has become a favorite haunt of people who visit the resort city, many of whom come just to see and hear Roberta.

From Billboard - April 28, 1956: You could sense a new star was being born five minutes after Roberta Sherwood made her debut on the big time in the Eden Roc Hotel's Cafe Pompeii. For more than 20 years she has been singing in Miami and Beach spots, and was recently signed by Decca.

She mad her entrance from among the Eden Roc tables, crooning her way to the stage. Onstage she held them with her first tow Decca recordings, "Cry Me A River," "I Get Lost In His Arms" and her upcoming "Lazy River." Whether in husky voice tones, loud or high pitch, she moulded her listeners into her moods. She uses no prima donna tactics, just stands up squarely and sings. This is what get her audience.

I Got Lost In His Arms
I Hadn't Anyone Till You
I Miss You Most Of All
Gee But I Hate To Go Home Alone
In A Strange Pair Of Arms
Cry Me A River
Lazy River
All Alone – Always
Take Your Shoes Off, Baby
The Glory Of Love
I Used To Love You
This Train