There passed away in August, almost unnoticed, Lita Roza, whose story has lessons for us in good taste and artistic integrity.
She had been a modestly successful singer with a big band when in 1953 her agent urged her to record 'How much is that doggie in the window'. Lita thought the song puerile but agreed to sing it, just once, for the recording. It was, as the agent had predicted, hugely successful but Lita stuck to her guns: 'I said I would sing it once and only once and then I would never sing it again, and I haven't'.
Bemused audiences who only knew her for the song pleaded with her to sing it at her concerts but she never did.
Later musical tastes moved to Rock and Roll and she wouldn't sing that either, so died having achieved a fraction of the fame she might have done.
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