Barbara McNair

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Barbara McNair March 4 1934 February 4 2007 was an AfricanAmerican singer and actress Born Barbara Joan McNair in Chicago Illinois and raised in Racine Wisconsin McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago Her big break came with a win on Arthur Godfreys TV show Talent Scouts which led to bookings at The Purple Onion and the Cocoanut Grove She soon became one of the countrys most popular headliners and a guest on such television variety shows as The Steve Allen Show Hullabaloo The Bell Telephone Hour and The Hollywood Palace while recording for the Coral Signature and Motown labels Among her hits were Youre Gonna Love My Baby and Bobby In the early 60s Barbara made several musical shorts for Scopitone a franchise of coinoperated machines that showed what were the forerunners of todays music videos McNairs acting career began on television guesting on series such as Dr Kildare The Eleventh Hour I Spy Mission Impossible Hogans Heroes and McMillan and Wife McNair posed nude for Playboy in the October 1968 issue She caught the attention of the moviegoing public with her muchpublicized nude sequences in the gritty crime drama If He Hollers Let Him Go 1968 opposite Raymond St Jacques then donned a nuns habit alongside Mary Tyler Moore for Change of Habit 1969 Elvis Presleys last feature film She portrayed Sidney Poitiers wife in They Call Me MISTER Tibbs 1970 and its sequel The Organization 1971 McNairs Broadway credits include The Body Beautiful 1958 No Strings 1962 and a revival of The Pajama Game 1973 McNair starred in her own 1969 television variety series but it lasted only one season despite the wattage provided by Alist guests like Tony Bennett and Sonny and Cher and offers began to dwindle On December 15 1976 her husband Rick Manzi was murdered and Mafia bossturnedFBIinformant Jimmy Fratianno later claimed in his book The Last Mafioso that Manzi had been a Mafia associate who tried to put a contract on the life of a mobassociated tax attorney with whom he had a legal dispute The ensuing publicity did little to help McNairs floundering career Her recordings include Livin End I Enjoy Being a Girl and The Ultimate Motown Collection a 2CD set with 48 tracks that include her two albums for the label plus a nonalbum single and Bside and an entire LP that never was released Into her seventies McNair resided in the Los Angeles area playing tennis and skiing to keep in shape on a regular basis and touring on occasion She died on February 4 2007 of throat cancer survived by her husband Charles Blecka Description above from the Wikipedia article  Barbara McNair licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia