Jackson, Marilyn (1929-24th May 1999)

Vocalist sometimes credited with her married name Marilyn Jackson Wells who was married to the lyricist of “The Christmas Song” Robert Wells, who died in 1998.

She recorded with Perry Como in the mid-‘50s on tracks such as “(There’s No Place Like) Home for the Holidays” and “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues”, released in 1954 and 1955, respectively. “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues” appeared on Perry Como’s So Smooth album.

In 1960, Marilyn was a member of the Anne Phillips Singers who recorded Noel Noel. She recorded a couple of tracks with Ben E. King and Claus Ogerman’s orchestra in 1962, “Down Home” and “Too Bad”. “Down Home” appeared on Ben E. King’s Seven Letters album. “Too Bad” was the A side of a single that was backed with “My Heart Cries For You”. In 1968, she celebrated the Yuletide with Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album.

A favourite of Quincy Jones, she appeared on no less than four of his albums between 1969 and 1971: I Heard That!, Walking in Space, Gula Matari, and Smackwater Jack. She was also an erstwhile member of the Walter Wanderley Set on 1969’s When it Was Done. In 1971, she performed on Grover Washington, Jr.’s Inner City Blues. Then, she offered vocal support on David Clayton-Thomas’s eponymous album in 1972.

In 1975, she appeared on Ron Carter’s album, Anything Goes. She played “Woman of the Town” on Rod McKuen’s experimental album, The Black Eagle, in 1978. No less experimental was The Ethel Merman Disco Album, which she recorded the following year. In fact, 1979 was a busy year for Marilyn: She appeared on Frank Sinatra’s boxed set, Trilogy, the soundtrack of Fast Break, and the big-band/disco experiment, Take the “A” Train, as a member of Tuxedo Junction.

The CD era affords us many and variegated opportunities to hear Marilyn’s soprano stylings, be it Ruby Terry’s “Live” with the Southwest Louisiana Mass Choir, the Mickey & Sylvia anthology, Love is Strange, or The Best of Patty Duke: Just Patty, on which she sings the “Theme from The Patty Duke Show”. Naturally, she also made the cut on Quincy Jones’ Summer in the Cityand Q: The Musical Biography of Quincy Jones.

She passed away suffering from cancer in her home in Santa Monica, California in May 1999. She was 70 years old.

Here’s “Rainy Night in Rio” by Tuxedo Junction which Marilyn performs on…

Sources:

Jackson, Marilyn (1929-24th May 1999)

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