Pat Kirby - What Is This Thing Called Love? (1957)

"What Is This Thing Called Love?" by Pat Kirby

Pat Kirby is next among the regular singers that would appear on Tonight Starring Steve Allen. With a distaste for showbiz, Kirby's career on TV and on wax was short. She released only a few singles and one album What Is This Thing Called Love? in 1957 on Decca Records.

With Tonight Starring Steve Allen having two female singers to promote the latest songs, their juxtaposition in the lineup leads to a highlight of their strengths. Where Gorme holds the listeners with her bombast, Pat Kirby does so with her precision. Her voice is clear and controlled and allows her to effortlessly navigate volume, mood and style. Like her coworker Steve Lawrence, the quieter she sings the more magical her voice, finding its height as it dips into a conversational, jazzy tone. The album starts with jazz as Kirby introduces the timeless question: What Is This Thing Called Love? The subsequent songs look for an answer but sonically turn to the traditional pop orchestral arrangements that just aren't as vital. But Pat Kirby's diamond-clear voice shines throughout and finds its exquisite home again in the concluding song "Love," a multi-faceted answer to that first question.

Here is Pat Kirby's discography:

Don't Tell Me Not to Love You (1955 single)

Wildwood (1955 single)

Don't Tell Me Not to Love You (1956 single)

I Keep a Little List (1956 single)

Somebody Somewhere (1956 single)

What Is This Thing Called Love?

Please Be Gentle with Me (1957 single)

Tammy (1957 single)

Sayonara (1957 single)

Lemon Soul (1969 single)

"Like Someone in Love" by Pat Kirby

"The Gentlemen Obviously Doesn't Believe" by Pat Kirby

"Love" by Pat Kirby

"I'm Glad There Is You" by Pat Kirby on Tonight Starring Steve Allen

"The Girl Next Door" by Pat Kirby on Tonight Starring Steve Allen

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