1913年生于芝加哥的美女，以灵动而快速且变化繁多的即兴演唱而闻名，出道于摇摆时代，成名于波谱时期，最初在班尼古得曼的乐队中演唱，之后组了个三人乐队，之后加入史坦肯顿的大乐团，不久就离开了乐队，在加入VERVE之后录制的一系列著名的专集包括这一张SINGS THE BEST把ANITA带入了事业的高峰，略带点沙哑的歌声，但多是轻快的演绎，听着能让人忘却烦恼，但她带给人们欢乐的同时却饱受毒品的折磨，以至于不得不停止大部分的演出和录音，1970年戒除了毒瘾的ANITA因在柏林爵士音乐节的出色表现而成功复出，直至在新世纪的舞台上仍然能看见她的身影。
 
by John Bush
 
Few female singers matched the hard-swinging and equally hard-living Anita ODay for sheer exuberance and talent in all areas of jazz vocals. Though three or four outshone her in pure quality of voice, her splendid improvising, wide dynamic tone, and innate sense of rhythm made her the most enjoyable singer of the age. ODays first appearances in a big band shattered the traditional image of a demure female vocalist by swinging just as hard as the other musicians on the bandstand, best heard on her vocal trading with Roy Eldridge on the Gene Krupa recording Let Me Off Uptown. After making her solo debut in the mid-40s, she incorporated bop modernism into her vocals and recorded over a dozen of the best vocal LPs of the era for Verve during the 1950s and 60s. Though hampered during her peak period by heavy drinking and later, drug addiction, she made a comeback and continued singing into the new millennium.
 
Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago, she was raised largely by her mother, and entered her first marathon-dance contest while barely a teenager. She spent time on the road and occasionally back at home, later moving from dancing to singing at the contests. After bad experiences amid brief tenures with Benny Goodman and even Raymond Scott, ODay earned a place in Gene Krupas band in 1941. Several weeks later, Krupa also hired trumpeter Roy Eldridge, and the trio combined to become an effective force, displayed on hits like Let Me Off Uptown, Boogie Blues, and Just a Little Bit South of North Carolina. She spent a brief period away from Krupa with Woody Herman, but returned to the band, only to have it break up by 1943. After moving to Stan Kenton, she starred on Kentons first big hit, 1944s And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine. Another stint with Krupa presaged her solo debut in 1946, and with drummer John Poole as her accompanist, she recorded a moderate hit one year later with the novelty Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip.
 
Her career really ignited after her first album, 1955s Anita (also known as This Is Anita). Much more successful in the jazz world than she was in its pop equivalent, she performed at jazz festivals and jazz-oriented concerts, appearing with figures including Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, and George Shearing. Her performance at 1958s Newport Jazz Festival made her fame worldwide after being released on a film titled Jazz on a Summers Day.
 
ODays series of almost 20 Verve LPs during the 50s and 60s proved her to be one of the most distinctive, trend-setting, and successful vocal artists of the time, arguably surpassed only by Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald. She worked with a variety of arrangers and in many different settings, including a hard-swinging Billy May collaboration (Anita ODay Swings Cole Porter with Billy May), an excellent, intimate set with the Oscar Peterson Quartet (Anita Sings the Most), several with the mainstream Buddy Bregman Orchestra (Pick Yourself Up, Anita), one with the cool-toned Jimmy Giuffre (Cool Heat), and a Latin date with Cal Tjader (Time for Two) as well as a collaborative LP with the Blue Note instrumental trio the 3 Sounds. Even by the early 60s, however, her ebullient voice had begun sounding tired. The cumulative effects of heroin addiction, its resulting lifestyle, and a non-stop concert schedule forced her into a physical collapse by 1967.
 
After taking several years to kick alcohol and drug addictions, she made a comeback at the 1970 Berlin Jazz Festival and returned in the early 70s with a flood of live and studio albums, many recorded in Japan and some released on her own label, Emily Records. Her autobiography, 1983s High Times, Hard Times was typically honest and direct regarding her colorful past. Though her voice gradually deteriorated, ODay recorded throughout the 1970s and 80s, remaining an exciting, forceful vocalist on record as well as in concert. She slowed down considerably during the 90s, and appeared only occasionally. She re-emerged in 2006 with a new album (Indestructible!), recorded during the previous two years, but passed away in November of that year due to the effects of pneumonia and advanced Alzheimers disease.