Also known as: First Lady of the Supper Clubs, Hildegarde Sell
Biography
Hildegarde was an American cabaret singer. She is well known for the song Darling, Je Vous Aime Beaucoup.
She was born Hildegarde Loretta Sell and was raised in New Holstein, Wisconsin, as a Roman Catholic in a family of German extraction. She trained at Marquette University's College of Music in the 1920s.
She worked in vaudeville and traveling shows throughout her career, appearing across the United States and Europe. She was known for 70 years as The Incomparable Hildegarde, a title bestowed on her by columnist Walter Winchell. She was also nicknamed the "First Lady of the Supper Clubs" by Eleanor Roosevelt.
She was once referred to as a "luscious, hazel-eyed Milwaukee blonde who sings the way Garbo looks". During the peak of her popularity in the 1930s and 1940s, she was booked in cabarets and supper clubs at least 45 weeks a year. Her recordings sold in the hundreds of thousands, and her admirers ranged from soldiers during World War II to King Gustaf VI Adolph of Sweden and th...
