DESCRIPTION:
Perfect Records 11593 - Cliff Edwards & His Hot Combination - Oh Lovey, Be Mine 1925 (Recorded 10-1925 in NYC) Music & Lyrics by Walter Donaldson. Cliff also recorded on Pathé Actuelle Records.
Clifton A. Edwards (June 14, 1895 -- July 17, 1971) — known as "Ukelele Ike" — was an American singer and voice actor who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early '30s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He had a number-one hit with "Singin' In The Rain" in 1929. He also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and is best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940). His personal life was troubled; he divorced three times, filed bankruptcy three times, was careless with money, and was addicted to drugs and alcohol. By the time of his death in 1971, Edwards was a penniless welfare patient at a California nursing home.
Popular singer Cliff Edwards (also known as "Ukulele Ike") was perceived by the public as a Jazz singer, and indeed he was one in many ways. Edwards often improvised scat-like vocals in a half sung style that he called the "Effin" that sounded like hot instrumental solos. Listen to "Say, Who Is That Baby Doll" for a good example of Edwards vocal improvisations. On these Hot Combination sides that Edwards recorded for Pathé Actuelle he is backed up by some solid Jazz talent which included Red Nichols, Miff Mole and Vic Berton. Edwards is best remembered today as the voice of Jiminy Cricket and for his performance of the song "When You Wish Upon a Star" in the in Walt Disney film "Pinocchio".