Mary Ford
From Academic Kids
Mary Ford (July 7, 1928-September 30, 1977, original name Iris Colleen Summers) was half of a husband-wife musical duo; the other half being Les Paul.
Ford was born in El Monte, California. The name Mary Ford was picked out of a telephone directory by Paul, so she had as short a name as his when they recorded as a duo. She was originally a country music performer, working with Gene Autry and Jimmy Wakely, and became one of the early practitioners of multi-tracking, where she recorded several parts of a multi-part harmony. She, Patti Page (who was probably the first), and Jane Turzy were three singers who used multi-tracking on their hits in the early 1950s.
She was a couple with Paul from 1946, and married in 1949. In 1964 they broke up both personally and professionally; Mary Ford went into retirement, while Les Paul continued as a consultant for the Gibson Company, guitar makers.
She died of complications from diabetes in Arcadia, California.
External links
- Mary Ford
- Mary Ford bio on imdb.com (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm1012702/)
- Les Paul & Mary Ford
- Visit Les & Mary (http://reevesaudio.com/visitlesandmary.html) (Reeves Audio)
- And Others
- DS-Max (http://www.ds-max.com)
