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I don't recall having heard of her before, but she had some significant success in the 1950s with "Pretty Eyed Baby" reaching #21 on Billboard in 1951 (when she was using the name Lola Ameche).
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I didn't know her recordings, so I listened to them. It is heard that she was slowly moving towards rock'n'roll.
Or am I mistaken?
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What you are saying makes sense; it goes with what the obituary said about her record label reinventing her after the advent of rock and roll. I found her name change at that time to be particularly interesting in that regard. Given that only her surname changed, and since Lola wasn't that common of a name, it would seem that they weren't really trying to hide who she actually was -- they just figured that a rebranding might help her to be more accepted as a rock and roll artist.