# Keely Smith
**Keely Smith** (born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely) was an American jazz and pop singer best known as the deadpan half of the husband-and-wife lounge act she formed with the bandleader and trumpeter [Louis Prima](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-prima), and for the inaugural Grammy Award the duo won for "That Old Black Magic".[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) Sources disagree on her birth year: obituaries from the Associated Press, The Guardian, and others give March 9, 1928, while AllMusic and several reference works give March 9, 1932, both in [Norfolk, Virginia](https://www.edgepedia.org/norfolk-virginia).[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) She died on December 16, 2017, in [Palm Springs, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/palm-springs-california), of apparent heart failure, aged 89.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, Norfolk, Virginia; stage surname taken from her stepfather Jesse Smith[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808906/bio/) |
| Birth year | March 9, 1928 per AP obituary and Guardian obituary; March 9, 1932 per AllMusic and Donald's Encyclopedia[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [6](https://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/encyclopedia/detail.php?s=3153) |
| Prima partnership | Joined Prima's band as "girl singer" in 1948; married July 13, 1953; divorced 1961[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-keely) |
| Signature hit | "That Old Black Magic" (1958), a Top 20 US hit; won the first-ever Grammy for a vocal group or chorus[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) |
| Las Vegas base | The Casbar Lounge at the Sahara Hotel, five shows a night from midnight to 6 a.m.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) |
| Later honors | Grammy nomination for *Keely Sings Sinatra* (2001); star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (ceremony September 22, 1998)[2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) • [8](https://walkoffame.com/keely-smith/) |
| Death | December 16, 2017, Palm Springs, California, apparent heart failure, aged 89[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) |
## Early life and joining Prima
Smith grew up in Norfolk in a family of Cherokee and Irish heritage. She sang on a local children's radio show as a child; at 14 she began singing with a naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell, and at 15 she got her first paying job with the Earl Bennett band.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [9](https://musicrising.tulane.edu/discover/people/keely-smith/) Her parents' marriage ended when she was nine, and her mother remarried Jesse Smith, whose surname she later adopted for the stage.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808906/bio/)
In 1947, on a family vacation diverted from New York to Atlantic City because of the heat, she saw Louis Prima perform at the [Steel Pier](https://www.edgepedia.org/steel-pier-atlantic-city).[10](https://concord.com/artist/keely-smith/) In 1948, when Prima played nearby Virginia Beach looking for a new female vocalist, she auditioned and was hired on the spot, touring with the band from that year.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) Prima gave her the stage name Keely Smith, and she recorded her first duets with him in 1949.[11](https://womennvhistory.org/portfolio/keely-smith/) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784)
## The Prima act and Las Vegas
Smith and Prima married on July 13, 1953, and had two daughters, Toni (born 1955) and Louanne (born 1957).[7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-keely) At a financial low point in the mid-1950s, the couple took an after-hours booking at the Casbar Lounge of the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas; what was planned as a two-week engagement grew into a residency that helped define the Las Vegas lounge show.[10](https://concord.com/artist/keely-smith/) • [12](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/497727-2001-09.pdf) With tenor saxophonist Sam Butera and the Witnesses behind them, they played five shows a night, starting at midnight and finishing at 6 a.m.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary)
The act worked as a deliberate contrast: Prima clowning and cavorting in front, Smith standing to one side with an impassive, deadpan expression and a cool, controlled vocal delivery. The musician and writer Leonard Feather described her as a "popular jazz-influenced comedienne-vocalist", and their New York Times obituary of Prima-era coverage credited the pairing with foreshadowing the style of [Sonny & Cher](https://www.edgepedia.org/sonny-and-cher) in the 1960s.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [13](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/remembering-jazz-singer-keely-smith) By 1959 they were described as the hottest show in town, drawing audiences that included [Frank Sinatra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-sinatra), Elvis Presley, and [John F. Kennedy](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-f-kennedy), and Dinah Shore introduced them on television as "the greatest nightclub act in the country".[10](https://concord.com/artist/keely-smith/)
**Grammy recognition.** Their 1958 recording of [Johnny Mercer](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-mercer)'s and [Harold Arlen](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-arlen)'s "That Old Black Magic" reached the US Top 20, and at the first Annual Grammy Awards Smith and Prima won Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for it.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) At the same ceremony Smith was also nominated for Female Pop Vocal Performance for her solo single "I Wish You Love", which had been a hit in 1957 and reportedly went gold.[2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) • [14](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/497727-1993-10.pdf) Follow-up duets included "I've Got You Under My Skin" and a revival of the Andrews Sisters' "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", both of which reached the Hot 100 in 1959.[2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) • [9](https://musicrising.tulane.edu/discover/people/keely-smith/) Their recorded output on Capitol included *The Wildest!* and *Las Vegas Prima Style*, and she simultaneously built a solo catalog, beginning with *I Wish You Love* (1957).[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [15](https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-very-best-of-keely-smith-mw0001666799)
Smith also appeared in films: *Thunder Road* (1958), for which she sang on the soundtrack, *Senior Prom* (1958), and, with Prima, *Hey Boy! Hey Girl!* (1959).[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [7](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-keely)
## Solo career
The marriage and the act ended together: Smith sued for divorce in 1961, citing extreme mental cruelty.[3](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) She formed her own label, Keely Records, in partnership with Frank Sinatra's Reprise Records, and recorded a series of albums with arrangements by [Nelson Riddle](https://www.edgepedia.org/nelson-riddle) and Ernie Freeman, including *Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New* (1963) and *The Intimate Keely Smith* (1964).[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) • [4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) In 1965 she reached the British Top 20 with *Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon-Paul McCartney Songbook* and the single "You're Breakin' My Heart", which Donald's Encyclopedia places at number 14 on the UK chart that year.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [6](https://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/encyclopedia/detail.php?s=3153)
She then withdrew from performing for nearly a decade to raise her daughters, returning with the comeback album *I'm in Love Again* (1985) on Fantasy, backed by West Coast jazz musicians including Bud Shank and Bill Perkins.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [16](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-23-ca-56143-story.html) She married the record producer Jimmy Bowen in 1965 and later the vocalist Bobby Milano, in the 1970s.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) Prima died in 1978.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html)
## Revival and final decades
The late-1990s swing revival, including a 1998 Gap commercial that used "Jump, Jive, an' Wail", renewed interest in her work.[16](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-23-ca-56143-story.html) Smith signed with Concord and recorded *Swing, Swing, Swing* (2000), *Keely Sings Sinatra* (2001), which brought a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, and *Keely Swings Basie-Style with Strings* (2002), followed by *Vegas '58 -- Today* (2005) and *Sweet and Lovely* (2012).[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [2](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/) In 2016 she partnered with Real Gone Music to reissue all five of her mid-1960s Reprise albums, including *The Intimate Keely Smith*, which JazzTimes called one of the finest late-night vocal albums of its era.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) • [17](https://www.jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/keely-smith-intimate-keely-smith/?v=a672068055fa)
She retained the rights to her Reprise masters, which had never been issued on disc before the reissues.[4](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784) At the 50th [Grammy Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/grammy-awards) in 2008 she performed "That Old Black Magic" as a duet with [Kid Rock](https://www.edgepedia.org/kid-rock), and her final performance came on February 13, 2011, at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html) She had lived in Palm Springs for about 40 years and was survived by her two children, Toni Prima and Luanne Prima.[1](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html)
## References
1. [Revered jazz and pop singer Keely Smith dies at 89, Los Angeles Times / Associated Press](https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-keely-smith-20171218-story.html)
2. [Keely Smith Grammy Awards and Nominations, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/artists/keely-smith/14216/)
3. [Keely Smith obituary, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/dec/17/keely-smith-obituary)
4. [Keely Smith Biography by Richie Unterberger, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/keely-smith-mn0000495784)
5. [Keely Smith Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808906/bio/)
6. [Smith, Keely, Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music](https://www.donaldclarkemusicbox.com/encyclopedia/detail.php?s=3153)
7. [Smith, Keely, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/smith-keely)
8. [Keely Smith, Hollywood Walk of Fame](https://walkoffame.com/keely-smith/)
9. [Keely Smith, Music Rising, Tulane University](https://musicrising.tulane.edu/discover/people/keely-smith/)
10. [Keely Smith, Concord](https://concord.com/artist/keely-smith/)
11. [Keely Smith, Women in Nevada History](https://womennvhistory.org/portfolio/keely-smith/)
12. [King of the Lounge, Nevada Magazine, Sept/Oct 2001](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/497727-2001-09.pdf)
13. [Remembering Jazz Singer Keely Smith, Fresh Air Archive](https://freshairarchive.org/segments/remembering-jazz-singer-keely-smith)
14. [Nevada Magazine, October 1993](https://epubs.nsla.nv.gov/statepubs/epubs/497727-1993-10.pdf)
15. [The Very Best of Keely Smith, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-very-best-of-keely-smith-mw0001666799)
16. [Keely Smith Swinging Back Into Vogue, Los Angeles Times, November 23, 2000](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-23-ca-56143-story.html)
17. [Keely Smith: The Intimate Keely Smith, JazzTimes](https://www.jazztimes.com/reviews/albums/keely-smith-intimate-keely-smith/?v=a672068055fa)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Jazz musicians and bandleaders › Bebop and hard bop era musicians*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license