This photo of Nat “King” Cole, Sarah Vaughan and Thelma Carpenter comes to VBG courtesy of the lovely blonde woman in the picture, Monica Lewis, who had a remarkable decades long career as a jazz singer. Ms. Lewis is 90 years old today and just as stunning! She is joined by Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole of course, along with Stan Kenton, a progressive jazz bandleader that she was dating at the time. The occasion was a gathering of top musicians in Chicago sponsored by BILLBOARD magazine. I wish I knew the name of the beautiful lady standing in between Ms. Vaughan and Mr. Kenton (she is not Mr. Cole’s wife, Maria Cole) so if you do know, tell me her name in the comment section!***
*** Updated to note that the mystery lady in question is singer and actress Thelma Carpenter. Thanks to VBG Facebook fan Derrick Lucas, who kindly contacted Dick Lapalm, Nat “King” Cole’s former manager, who identified Ms. Carpenter for VBG.
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