The Lass With the Delicate Air
Evelyn Knight was born on December 31, 1917 in Reedville, Virginia and died on September 28, 2007 in San Jose, California.
She sings two songs on the 1944 Decca album A 368 : With a Smile and a Song and Buddle-Uddle-Um-Dum (The Washing Song). In the latter, she performs with The Andy Love Four. The booklet on this album described her so:
Tall, blonde Evelyn Knight is a woman to be envied. Not only does she possess an exquisite voice, but she has one currently priceless possession for which Washington Congressmen would give half their power. Miss Knight is a home owner. She has a charming house in the outskirts of Washington. Most people who “reach the top” at an early age want merely to bask in the glory of their glamour, but not Evelyn. She is a homebody and intends to remain one.
The reason for her desire to remain in one place is not hard to find if one looks into her early career. Her father was a geodetic surveyor for the government, whose duties called him to ports and cities all over the world. His family accompanied him on his travels, and consequently Evelyn spent her childhood on the seas, much as a seasoned sailor.
Finally she managed to squeeze into her roving life a high school education and then promptly started to take vocal lessons.
Popular as she is for singing, Evelyn is also a fine orator. Among all her souvenirs, a silver cup that she won for oral reading is the most highly prized.
In the middle of her first song on her first radio show in Charleston, South Carolina, she forgot the words and “la-de-da’d” all through the number. Although the sponsor at first was furious, Evelyn managed to win him because of the great audience response that flooded the studio for the new songstress. She sang on that program for two years. After that, she migrated to Washington and turned a two-week trial into a five-year engagement at the King Cole Room. She has been on several bond selling tours, for which she was commended by the Treasury Department at Washington.
Her latest triumph was her debut at the Blue Angel, a prominent New York night spot. Although her first contract was drawn to run for only two weeks, she now holds the record for the longest engagement at the club — six months.
Barry Wood gave her an audition and engaged her for “The Million Dollar Band” show, and now to top is all, Miss Knight is going to make her next stop Hollywood, as she was recently signed by 20th Century-Fox.
