Timi Yuro

Rosemary Victoria Yuro (August 4, 1941 – March 30, 2004), known professionally as Timi Yuro, was an American singer. Sometimes called "the little girl with the big voice", she is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era. Yuro possessed a contralto vocal range. According to one critic, "her deep, strident, almost masculine voice, staggered delivery and the occasional sob created a compelling musical presence".

Yuro was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 4, 1941, into an Italian-American family whose original name may have been Aurro. By the time of her birth, however, the family used the spelling Yuro. In 1952, young Rosemary moved with her family to Los Angeles, where she sang in her parents' Italian restaurant and, despite their opposition, in local nightclubs before catching the eye and ear of talent scout Sonny Knight.

Signed to Liberty Records in 1959, she had a U.S. Billboard No. 4 single in 1961 with "Hurt", an R&B ballad that had been an early success for Roy Hamilton. Yuro's recording was produced by Clyde Otis, who had previously worked with Brook Benton and Dinah Washington. Later that year she recorded as a duo with Johnnie Ray. She charted some further minor hits including "Smile" (No. 42), opened for Frank Sinatra on his 1962 tour of Australia, and received a 1962 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist of 1961 (losing to Peter Nero).

In 1962, Bob Johnston and Otis produced Yuro's single "What's a Matter Baby (Is It Hurting You?)", which went to No. 12 on the Billboard pop chart. On both "Hurt" and "What's a Matter Baby", Yuro showed an emotional but elegant vocal style that owed a debt to Washington and other black jazz singers. Many listeners in the early 1960s thought Yuro was black. Her single "The Love of a Boy" reached No. 44 in 1962. It was arranged and co-written by Burt Bacharach, but Yuro refused to record his suggested follow-up, "What the World Needs Now Is Love".

In the following year, Liberty released Make the World Go Away, an album of country and blues standards. The singer at her vocal peak, this recording includes the hit title song (later a bigger hit for Eddy Arnold, with whom the song is usually associated), a version of Willie Nelson's "Permanently Lonely", and two different blues takes of "I'm Movin' On". Yuro was also known for soulful reworkings of popular American standards, such as "Let Me Call You Sweetheart", "Smile", and "I Apologize". She toured Europe in 1963, and appeared on the British TV show Ready Steady Go!. However, in the U.S. her image became established as a cabaret performer, rather than as a soul singer.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.