Teal Joy biography

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Teal Joy (born Elsie Chizuko Itashiki on June 13, 1926 in Seattle, Washington) was an Asian American nightclub singer and recording artist from the mid-1950s to the early 1960s.

Early life

She was the daughter of Tarozaemon "Toku" Itashiki (February 16, 1887-October 7,1957) and Fuku Ogura (March 25,1892-May 23,1943). Both parents immigrated to the United States from Japan. Toku was a porter in a department store and Fuku was a schoolteacher who taught Japanese to students. The Itashikis later moved to San Francisco, California.

Elsie had 4 siblings: Marie Mariya, (October 20, 1920-April 23, 2004), Radia (Lydia) Reiko (born June 1, 1923), Hiromichi (Robert) Itashiki (January 2, 1930-September 23, 2007) and Yoko (Mary Ann) (born Feruary 26, 1935). All were nisei, or second generation Americans born to Japanese parents.

Internment

Like many Japanese American citizens in the United States during World War II, Elsie and her family were relocated to detention camps. A request to detain Elsie's mother Fuku as an “enemy alien” considered “very pro-Japanese” was issued on December 12, 1941 by the FBI. Arrested in her home in San Francisco, she was transported first to Tanforan Assembly Center and then to Camp Sharp Park in Sharp Park, California.

Toku Itashiki and his children were forcibly removed from their San Francisco home on September 18, 1942. The original FBI decision was to detain the family until that date, with the intention to relocate them to Chicago. They were assigned a family number of 19033 and moved to Tanforan Assembly Center, a concentration camp in San Bruno, California. They were later transferred to Topaz War Relocation Center in Millard County, Utah, the same detention center where actor Jack Soo and his family were held. War photographer Dorothea Lange took a photo of Elsie's sister Yoko and her friend Helene Nakamoto saying the pledge of allegiance before their transport to Topaz in 1942. Yoko (who later changed her name to Mary Ann) remembered the family left their home suddenly, leaving their uneaten meal still on the table.

Fuku Itashiki never saw her family again after her arrest. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the Sharp Park Detention center on May 23, 1943 and her body was transported to Topaz for a quick funeral. Her body was cremated. The Itashiki family later relocated her remains to Chicago to be buried next to her husband.

Elsie attended Topaz High School, a school at the camp. Her interest in performing was documented early in the 1943 Ramblings yearbook, where she acted in the Eric Hatch comedic play Little Darling and was the featured vocalist in a musical called The New Faces of 1943, where she sang "Mr. Five by Five". In 1944, she was part of a Gay Nineties review. In 1945, she was a member of the graduation committee and listed her intended commercial major as “professional singer". In January 1945, Elsie performed a vocal solo at graduation, led the pledge of allegiance, and did the welcome as the chairman of the graduation committee.

Career

After graduation, Elsie moved with her family to Chicago. She worked as a hat check girl and a typist then got a job as an English narrator with the Kubuki Dancers of Japan when they toured the United States. She also did an occasional singing engagement and worked as a dancer in a chorus line. The Pacific Citizen newspaper featured a photo of her singing at an amateur contest in Chicago in 1946. By 1949, she began to sing professionally using the adopted stage name of Teal Joy. She picked this name when she sang in a Chinese nightclub in New York called the China Doll. This stage name led the press to believe that she was Chinese. The Detroit Tribune, in a 1949 article, called her a “brilliant Chinese vocalist” when she performed at Sportree's Music Bar.

By the early 1950s she sang in other nightclubs including the Club Regal Melody Room in Ohio, the Flame Show Bar in Detroit (where she was referred as the “Chinese a la Billie Holiday Songstress” in 1951), various clubs in New York, and at the Bermuda Sunset Lodge, a club she headlined in June 1955. An article in a Bermuda newspaper mentioned that disappointed patrons were turned away from hearing Teal Joy, “the sensational Chinese American singer". In 1956, she released her first single on the Kapp record label, Somebody's Wrong/Mighty Blue (billed as “Miss Joy”) with orchestration by Van Alexander, a composer and arranger who worked with Ella Fitzgerald, Gordon MacRae and Andy Williams.

Bandleader Ted Steele stumbled upon her show during her engagement at the Bamboo Club in Atlantic City. Steele, who a composer, arranger and host of several radio and television shows, was immediately struck by her talent. He could not believe that such a great singer was not signed to a record label. After he was hired by Bethlehem Records to create albums for the label's personality series, he made his first release the debut album of Teal Joy and worked diligently to promote her, even calling her first album Ted Steele Presents Miss Teal Joy. The album was released on October 28, 1957.

Curiously, the record company altered her ethnic heritage by claiming she was of “Japanese, Peruvian and French descent," perhaps to draw a wider audience, to explain her ability to tackle songs in multiple languages, or possibly in order for Teal to distance herself from her Japanese lineage. Her album was unusual since it was primarily jazz-oriented but included songs sung in other languages, similar to records Eartha Kitt was releasing at the time. In addition to English, Teal sang in Italian (Come Back to Sorrento), Japanese ('Deed I Do), French (Autumn Leaves), Spanish (El Cubanchero), and Yiddish (Misirlou). On the liner notes, Ted Steele said: "I have never been so positive of greatness as I am now. I now have the opportunity to create with, what I consider, the greatest new voice in the last decade". He also said,“I was completely stunned by her immeasurable talent and taste". He referred to Teal Joy as a rarity in the music business because of her impeccable taste in music and the variety of songs she performed.

Teal Joy made an almost immediate impact in the music industry within a few weeks of the album's release. Cashbox Magazine reviewed the album in their November issue and remarked that Teal had a versatile voice and that her album “could create a very favorable sales-deejay stir" and called her debut LP "impressive". Another article from November 1957 stated that her album was viewed so favorably that she was to be signed to Paramount Pictures for a movie role (which doesn't seem to have transpired), would appear on Steve Allen's variety show, and would be singing in Cuba at the Casino De Capri along with singer Gordon MacRae. At the time, her personal manager was Carl Lebow of Bethlehem Records.

She debuted on the Steve Allen Show on November, 24, 1957, where she performed “Do I Love You” in English and Chinese. In April 1958 she appeared on The Tonight Show along with Boris Karloff.

Ted Steele also asked his friend Frank Sinatra to help book Teal Joy into some of the better nightclubs in the United States. He raved about her versatility and talent and listed some names of the orchestra members who played on the album. Based on this recommendation, Sinatra brought in a piano and had Teal sing a number of songs. Steele mentioned that her singing sometimes reminded him of Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt or Edith Piaf. Sinatra was impressed and arranged to have Teal booked in some of the top clubs around the country in 1958, including the Copacabana in New York, the Fontaine Bleu in Miami, Chase Park Plaza in St. Louis, Mr. Kelley’s in Chicago, and the Pyramid Room in Dallas. She was well-received by audiences and. as a result, her album became a best seller in the United States, France and Japan. In 1958, AAMCO records re-released the album on their own label and had Teal record a promotional single, Lightning/Never Mind, Never Mind, Never Mind. In 1958, she also married Anthony Callegari, a native New Yorker, in Queens.

1959 also proved to be a busy year, including performances at the Roxy in a musical revue called “Sing Song” and an appearance in Washington, D.C. at the Lotus Blossom, both with Keigo Takeuchi and his Imperial Japanese Dancers, and a week in Aruba at the Aruba Caribbean Hotel and Casino. Her performance in Aruba was so well received that her show was extended for an additional week. There was even a suggestion in a March 1959 edition of the Pacific Citizen that Teal be considered for the Linda Low role in a London tour of Flower Drum Song, which was in the middle of its successful run on Broadway. In October 1959, she appeared on Dick Clark's World of Talent with Julius La Rosa and Joan Fontaine.

In February 1960, Teal Joy was invited to participate in the first Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile, representing Japan. The event attracted 35,000 people. A month later, she released a single on SEECO records, I Didn't Know What Time It Was/Alone In Paris. Cashbox Magazine gave the single a "B" rating of "very good". Billboard reviewed the album that followed, Mood In Mink, on in March 1960, saying that it had strong sales potential and "considerable appeal for pop audiences". Unlike her debut LP, Mood In Mink was a straightforward jazz album in English under the direction of Jack Quigley. Although the album received critical acclaim, sales were disappointing, and it signaled the end of Teal Joy's brief recording career. She continued to perform in clubs, including an extended stay at the Seville Hotel in Miami Beach, headlining their "Stars A-Poppin' Extravaganza,” rotating with other stars of the day, including Fran Warren, Morey Amsterdam, Kaye Ballard and The Ink Spots.

Discography

Albums

• Ted Steele Presents Miss Teal Joy (1958), Bethlehem Records
• Mood In Mink (1960)

Singles

• "Lightning/Never Mind, Never Mind, Never Mind" (1958), AAMCO records
• "I Didn't Know What Time It Was/Alone In Paris" (1960), SEECO Records

Later years

After 1960, Teal Joy seems to have disappeared entirely from the entertainment industry. It is believed that she had at least one daughter she named Teal in 1962 and, although unconfirmed, it is alleged that she died on October 15, 1990 at the age of 64. Teal Joy was one a few Asian American singers in the 1950’s to achieve some success in the music industry.

External links

• Teal Joy biography on IMDb

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