Description
That Bad Eartha is a 1954 studio album by Eartha Kitt, her debut 12″ vinyl album issued on the RCA Victor label. The album was recorded in four sessions between March and October 1953 with Henri Rene and His Orchestra. Long-playing records were newly introduced in the mid-1950s and the 10″ album was briefly introduced as an album format. Within a few years the 12″ album was the format offered to the record buying public, remaining so until the late-1980s when the Compact Disc became the favoured format. In May 1953 RCA had released a 10″ vinyl album RCA Victor Introduces Eartha Kitt which featured 8 songs issued on this album. With the successful introduction of the 12″ LP in the early 1950s RCA Victor expanded and re-issued the album with 12 tracks. Several singles were issued from this album, “Under the Bridges of Paris” charted in the UK singles chart in 1955 at #7. Many of the songs recorded for this album, such as “C’est si bon”, “Uska Dara” and “I Want to Be Evil” became closely associated with Eartha Kitt and were performed live by her until one of her last concerts at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, shortly before her death in December 2008. The complete album was re-issued on CD in 1994 as part of the Bear Family Records five-CD boxset Eartha – Quake; this included “Santa Baby” and several other tracks from the same recording session not included in this album. Although a very poor condition copy of the original album, this copy has been signed by Eartha on the front cover in black ink, a clear and strong signature and a sure fire investment.