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Bawdy and risque, the comedy of Rusty Warren was daring and revolutionary; one
of the few successful female performers in a business historically dominated by
men, Warren pushed the envelope further by dealing explicitly with sex, a taboo
topic for any mainstream comic of the 1950s and 1960s regardless of gender.
Born Ilene Goldman in New York in 1931, she was raised in Milton, Massachusetts,
and after graduating from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1952, she
became a teacher. On the advice of a boyfriend, Warren spent a summer performing
in a piano lounge in upstate New York; she immediately fell in love with show
business and never returned to academia. Her explicit style began to develop
soon after, influenced by underground recordings by Sophie Tucker and Ruth Wallis.
After signing to the Jubilee label, Warren issued her debut record, Songs for
Sinners, in 1959. While performing in Toledo, Ohio later that year, she introduced
her trademark number, "Knockers Up," a call for women to shed their sexual inhibitions.
Her next LP, also dubbed Knockers Up!, followed in 1960; the album became a
surprise word-of-mouth smash, reaching the Top Ten and remaining on the charts
for over three years. Overnight, Warren became a notorious figure, the queen
of the party records; Sin-Sational! and Rusty Warren Bounces Back, both issued
in 1961, hit the Top 40, and a fervent cult following emerged.
1962's Rusty Warren in Orbit was another Top 40 success, bu like many comedians,
Warren's career faltered in the wake of the cultural shifts brought on by the
assassination of John F. Kennedy; after 1963's Banned in Boston, only 1966's
More Knockers Up!, a return to past glories, managed to chart. Still, Warren
remained a fixture of the club circuit, occasionally issuing new material like
Sex X Xponent and Bottoms Up! She continued actively performing in subsequent
years, and even issued Knockers Up '76 in celebration of the nation's bicentennial.
After reaching the age of 60, Warren retired, but occasionally returned to the
club stage for tributes and benefit performances. (Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide)
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