Libby Holman

b. Elsbeth Holzman, 23 May 1904, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, d. 18 June 1971, Stamford, Connecticut, USA. Holman was regarded by some as the first great white torch singer, and by others as ‘a dark purple menace', because of her tempestuous private life. She played minor roles in Broadway musicals such as Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's The Garrick Gaieties (1925), but became a featured star in Merry-Go-Round (1927), and Rainbow (1928), in which she gave a languorous performance of ‘I Want A Man'. After making the US Top 10 in 1929 with ‘Am I Blue?', she was acclaimed a major sta...