Anita Oday

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American singer, a dazzling jazz performer for 56 years as of 1990. With a chaotic personal life, she survived a 14-year addiction to heroin, two prison terms for possession, a nervous breakdown, alcoholism, a rape, several abortions and two failed marriages. In 1981 she published her autobiography "High Times Hard Times." O'Day had an unpleasant childhood with family fights and a father who left them. She began as a dancer and burlesque singer, a pro by the time she was 19. She loved her early fame, singing with big bands, the money and acclaim, the high-life with ample drugs and available men. She appeared in three feature films including "The Gene Krupa Story," 1959. When she survived an overdose on 3/04/1966, O'Day quit drugs cold turkey. She married in 1937, and a second time in 1943 for 12 years. By 1990 she was living in the desert community of San Jacinto, CA, still enjoying her drink but drug-free. On 12/18/1996, she had surgery on her right arm to repair multiple fractures caused by a fall at home. The jazz vocalist died on November 23, 2006 in Los Angeles, age 87. She had been battling pneumonia though the immediate cause of death was not given. Link to Wikipedia biography