Natural Singer

Edna May Durbin (Deanna Durbin) started singing at a very early age - she was a natural.

Her voice was a gift from God and people were blessed to hear her sing.



Little Edna May began singing lessons in 1932 at the Ralph Thomas Academy.

Here is a historic letter written by a dear old lady who remembers a very young Deanna Durbin:

"I have known Deanna ever since she was eighteen months old. From the age of two years she has sung beautifully. I can remember the many parties and gatherings we attended when Deanna was requested to sing and she was so tiny we used to stand her up on a chair so that everyone could see her. When she commenced to sing, a hushed silence would fill the room. Even at the tender age of two and three, little Deanna could hold an audience spellbound. She loved music dearly and every day when she came over to see me, she would have me play record after record on the victrola. She would sit there and listen with her big blue eyes looking into the distance, showing that her little mind and heart were truly in the words and the song."

Mrs. W. Smith (Los Angeles)


DEANNA DURBIN'S FIRST VOICE TEST:

Edna May enjoyed singing Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes:

Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine
Or leave a kiss within the cup
And I'll not ask for wine
The thirst that from the soul doth rise
Doth ask a drink divine
But might I of Jove's nectar sip
I would not change for thine

I sent thee late a rosy wreath
Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope that there
It could not withered be
But thou thereon did'st only breathe
And sent'st it back to me
Since when it grows and smells I swear
Not of itself but thee

Edna May also sang the following songs: Giannina Mia, Sylvia, A Brown Bird Singing.

A mathematician estimated that the average Deanna Durbin song gave 3 minutes of melody and consumed 12 cups of coffee, 48 cigarettes (not hers for she didn't smoke), 5 pieces of chalk, 550 feet of celluloid, 776 working hours of 97 specialist people!!!



For the movies, Deanna's songs were recorded separately and then synchronized with the motions of her mouth.

Deanna Durbin had recordings released with Polydor/Decca during her Universal years.

Il Bacio was the very first gramophone recording Deanna made.

Today, her audio recordings are still selling well and the demand will only increase as more and more people watch her movies on DVD!

Here is an interesting comment by Jeanine Basinger about Deanna Durbin:

"Her music was the deepest source of her intimacy with her audience. The happiness with which she sang, the charm of her voice and the warmth with which she interpreted lyrics took her out of the frame and put her in touch with viewers. Her numbers were solos that she seemed to sing to each individual. She had the ability to connect, to create some secret pocket of existence that individuals in the audience thought that only they occupied."