"THE GIRL I KNEW"
Sung by Elisabeth Welch
Drury Lane Theatre Orchestra
Recorded April 18, 1935
Composed by Ivor Novello
American-born British musical theatre and cabaret singer (born Feb. 27, 1904, New York) she was known for her show-stopping performances in plays by Cole Porter, Ivor Novello, and Noel Coward. Welch began her career in New York City, where she created a sensation in 1931 with her rendition of Porter's 'Love for Sale'. She was a cabaret singer in Paris before becoming a fixture in London's West End. From the 1930s she appeared in films and on British radio and television. Welch was particularly associated with the songs 'Stormy Weather', which she introduced to English audiences in 1933, and 'Solomon', written for her by Porter. Later she was a hit in the musical Pippin (1970), and in 1980 a half century after her last appearance in New York City she made a triumphant return to Broadway. She died on July 15, 2003, Northolt, Middlesex, England at the age of 99 years old.
