Judy Garland
Singer/actress Judy Garland had a varied career that began in vaudeville and extended into movies, records, radio, television, and personal appearances. She is best remembered as the big-voiced star of a series of movie musicals, particularly The Wizard of Oz, in which she sang her signature song, "Over the Rainbow." But unlike most other film stars of her era, she also maintained a career as a recording artist, and after her movie-making days were largely over, she was able to transfer her stardom to performing and recording, culminating in her Grammy-winning number one album Judy at Carnegie Hall.

The third daughter of former vaudevillians running a theater in Grand Rapids, MN, Garland made her stage debut singing "Jingle Bells" during the holiday season when she was two years old. Soon after, she joined the singing group formed by her two sisters. Early on, her surprisingly mature voice caused her to dominate the group. Her family moved to California in the fall of 1926, where the sisters found occasional work on-stage and on radio, even appearing in several film shorts in 1929 and 1930. In the summer of 1934, they toured in the Midwest, where George Jessel suggested they change their name from the Gumm Sisters to the Garland Sisters; eventually, each sister also picked a new first name, with Garland choosing hers for the Hoagy Carmichael/Sammy Lerner song "Judy."

The Garland Sisters broke up in the summer of 1935 upon the marriage of Garland's oldest sister, Mary Jane. Soon after, Garland successfully auditioned for the MGM film studio, and she was signed to a contract that fall. Within weeks, she made her network radio debut on The Shell Chateau Hour. The movie studio did not have immediate plans for her, but her career did advance in another area. She had made test recordings on two occasions in 1935 for Decca Records; finally, in June 1936 the label recorded her singing "Stompin' at the Savoy" and released it the following month as her debut single, although she was not yet signed to a term contract with the label.

Garland made her feature film debut in the musical Pigskin Parade, on loan to the 20th Century Fox studio, in November 1936. She finally made an impression at MGM when she sang a version of "You Made Me Love You" with special material written by Roger Edens that transformed it into a tribute to film star Clark Gable, at Gable's birthday party on February 1, 1937. The performance was re-created in Broadway Melody of 1938, released in August. After attending a preview, Decca president Jack Kapp finally decided to sign Garland to a recording contract, and the label soon released her studio versions of "Everybody Sing" and "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You" from the film.

Garland made four more films (Thoroughbreds Don't Cry, Everybody Sing, Listen, Darling, and Love Finds Andy Hardy) and a couple more singles through 1938, but she didn't achieve major stardom until the release of The Wizard of Oz in August 1939. Glenn Miller had jumped the gun on the film by recording "Over the Rainbow," and the song was already a hit before the movie was released. But Garland's recording for Decca also became popular, and her success was sealed by the release of Babes in Arms shortly after The Wizard of Oz. At the 1939 Academy Awards in February 1940, she was presented with a miniature Oscar for her outstanding performance as a screen juvenile. In March, Decca released her first album, Judy Garland Souvenir Album, a three-disc, six-song set combining the "Dear Mr. Gable: You Made Me Love You" single with her current singles "In Between" (from Love Finds Andy Hardy) and "Figaro" (from Babes in Arms). …