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Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a musical comedy double act developed by American conductor and arranger Paul Weston, and his wife, singer Jo Stafford. The routine was conceived in the 1950s, and involved Weston playing songs on the piano in unconventional rhythms, while Stafford sang off-key in a high pitched voice. The couple released five albums and one single as the Edwardses, and their 1960 album, ''Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris'' won that year's Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. Weston first assumed the role of a bad lounge pianist in the mid-1950s, as a way of entertaining guests at Hollywood parties, but was urged to record an album of songs in the unconventional style after giving an impromptu performance in 1956. At the time, he was working for Columbia Records, and after hearing Weston's rendition of "Stardust" at a sales convention in Key West, Florida, Columbia executives George Avakian and Irving Townsend encouraged him to record an album of similar tracks. Avakian named Weston's character Jonathan Edwards after the 18th century Calvinist preacher of the same name and asked him to record under that alias, but fearing he would not have enough material to record a full album, Weston asked his wife to join the project. Stafford, a classically trained singer with the ability to sing both in and out of tune, readily agreed, and named her character Darlene Edwards. Their first album, ''The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards'' was released in 1957, but Weston and Stafford did not admit to being behind the act until ''Time'' magazine identified them in an article in September 1957. The Jonathan and Darlene Edwards act won the couple many fans, including some among their show business peers such as the pianist George Shearing, but their 1979 cover of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" was disliked by the band. Their final album, ''Darlene Remembers Duke, Jonathan Plays Fats'' was released in 1982. ==History== Paul Weston and Jo Stafford enjoyed successful careers as musicians from the 1930s; Weston as an arranger and conductor, and Stafford as a singer. She performed both as a member of the group The Pied Pipers and as a solo artist, with many of her solo hits backed by Weston's orchestra. Stafford was very comfortable working with Weston, and the couple became romantically involved in the mid 1940s. They married in 1952, and continued to collaborate together on recordings.〔 Weston began his impression of an unskilled pianist in or around 1955, assuming the guise "when things got a little quiet, or when people began taking themselves too seriously at a Hollywood party." One person who particularly enjoyed the act on these occasions was Dean Martin's wife Jeanne, who would ask Weston to "do that silly thing you do".〔 He put on an impromptu performance of the act the following year at a Columbia Records sales convention in Key West, Florida, after hearing a particularly bad hotel pianist. The audience was very appreciative of his rendition of "Stardust", particularly Columbia executives George Avakian and Irving Townsend, who encouraged Weston to make an album of such songs.〔 Inspired by the pianist Roger Williams, who shared his name with a theologian from Rhode Island, Avakian suggested naming Weston's character after Jonathan Edwards, a Calvinist preacher from the 18th Century.〔 Weston worried that he might not be able to find enough material for an entire album, and he asked his wife to join the project.〔 Staffordwho had previously recorded comedy songs under the name Cinderella G. Stumpreadily agreed, and named her off-key vocalist persona Darlene Edwards.〔 Stafford's creation of Darlene Edwards had its roots in the novelty songs that Mitch Miller, the head of Columbia's artists and repertoire department, had been selecting for her to sing. These included songs such as "Underneath the Overpass", which she felt obliged to record because Columbia was paying for her studio time. However, because she did not agree with Miller's music choices for her, Stafford and her studio musicians often recorded their own renditions of the music, performing the songs according to their feelings about them.〔〔 Because she had some unused studio time at a 1957 recording session, as a joke Stafford recorded a track as Darlene Edwards. Those who heard bootlegs of the recording responded positively, and later that year, Stafford and Weston recorded an album of songs as Jonathan and Darlene, entitled ''The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards''.〔 The couple had to replace the drummer for the album because the musician they had initially hired laughed until he cried, making it impossible to get a decent take.〔 When the album was released, former Pied Pipers member and Los Angeles-based radio personality Dick Whittinghill told his listeners that Darlene Edwards was the best female singer he'd ever heard, then played one of the tracks"It's Magic". Afterwards, people contacted him to say "We have trusted you all these years, all our lives. This woman is terrible, how can we ever believe in you again?".〔 Others said they had to stop driving because they were afraid to do so while she was singing.〔 As a publicity stunt, Weston and Stafford claimed that Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a New Jersey lounge act which they had discovered, and denied any personal connection.〔 This ruse led to much speculation about the Edwardses' identities. In an article titled ''Two Right Hands'' in September 1957, ''Time'' magazine reported that some people believed the performers were Harry and Margaret Truman, but the same piece identified Weston and Stafford as the Edwardses.〔 Even after Stafford and Weston were identified as the Edwardses, some people remained unaware of it. Paul Weston once played golf with the head of a major corporation; somehow the small talk during the game came around to an album the executive had purchased during a New York visit. The man said he had purchased ''Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris'' and asked Weston if he had ever heard of the record. Weston thought it was a joke until the man said, "He's pretty good, but I don't think she's all that hot."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jonathan and Darlene Edwards」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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