ANITA BRYANT
Name: Anita Bryant
Born: 25 March 1940 Barnsdall, Oklahoma
Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma) is an American
singer.
She is widely known for her strong views against homosexuality, and for her
prominent campaigning in the mid-1970s to prevent gay equality - specifically
her successful move to repeal a local ordinance in Miami, Florida, that
prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant is a member
of a conservative church congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist
Convention.
Bryant's belief in God and the Bible had their roots in her childhood. She was
initially declared dead at childbirth in her grandparents' tiny frame house in
Barnsdall, Oklahoma, but her grandfather would not accept that the baby was dead.
When the doctor told her grandfather to get him a pan of ice water, the new
grandfather lost no time and the newborn Anita survived.
Her grandfather taught her as a baby to sing when she was six months old. Soon
after her sister Sandra was born, her Mother and Father divorced. Her Dad went
in the Army and her Mom went to work, taking her children to live with their
grandparents temporarily. When Anita was two years old, her Grandfather taught
her to sing Jesus Loves Me. Bryant was singing onstage on local fairgrounds in
Oklahoma at age six. She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was
invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town. Her father
at first refused to allow her to go on Godfrey's show, relenting only when he
was told his daughter had exceptional talent, and it would be a sin not to share
it.
Bryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a second runner-up in the 1959 Miss
America beauty pageant at age 19, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will
Rogers High School.
In 1960, she married Bob Green, a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually
raised four children, including Gloria and Robert Jr. (Bobby).
Her three biggest pop hits were: "Till There Was You" (1959); "Paper Roses" (1960)
(successfully covered 13 years later by Marie Osmond); and "In My Little Corner
of the World" (1960). She placed a total of eleven songs in the Top 100, plus
some in the "Bubbling Under" chart.
There were several albums on the Carlton and Columbia labels. For example:
The 1959 Carlton LP "Anita Bryant" contained Til There Was You, Do-Re-Mi (from
The Sound Of Music), and other show tunes. The 1963 Columbia Greatest Hits LP
contained both Carlton and Columbia songs, including Paper Roses and Step By
Step. In 1964 came the "World Of Lonely People" album (pictured) containing "Welcome,
Welcome Home" and a magical new rendition of "Little Things Mean a Lot" arranged
by Frank Hunter.
In 1969 she became a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission, and
nationally televised commercials featured her singing "Come to the Florida
Sunshine tree" and stating the commercials' tagline: "Breakfast without orange
juice is like a day without sunshine".
In addition, during this time, she also did advertisements for Coca-Cola, Kraft
Foods, Holiday Inn, and Tupperware.
1964 album
She sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the graveside services for
Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, and performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl III
in 1969.
Name: Anita Bryant
Born: 25 March 1940 Barnsdall, Oklahoma
Anita Jane Bryant (born March 25, 1940, in Barnsdall, Oklahoma) is an American
singer.
She is widely known for her strong views against homosexuality, and for her
prominent campaigning in the mid-1970s to prevent gay equality - specifically
her successful move to repeal a local ordinance in Miami, Florida, that
prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Bryant is a member
of a conservative church congregation affiliated with the Southern Baptist
Convention.
Bryant's belief in God and the Bible had their roots in her childhood. She was
initially declared dead at childbirth in her grandparents' tiny frame house in
Barnsdall, Oklahoma, but her grandfather would not accept that the baby was dead.
When the doctor told her grandfather to get him a pan of ice water, the new
grandfather lost no time and the newborn Anita survived.
Her grandfather taught her as a baby to sing when she was six months old. Soon
after her sister Sandra was born, her Mother and Father divorced. Her Dad went
in the Army and her Mom went to work, taking her children to live with their
grandparents temporarily. When Anita was two years old, her Grandfather taught
her to sing Jesus Loves Me. Bryant was singing onstage on local fairgrounds in
Oklahoma at age six. She sang occasionally on radio and television, and was
invited to audition when Arthur Godfrey's talent show came to town. Her father
at first refused to allow her to go on Godfrey's show, relenting only when he
was told his daughter had exceptional talent, and it would be a sin not to share
it.
Bryant became Miss Oklahoma in 1958 and was a second runner-up in the 1959 Miss
America beauty pageant at age 19, right after graduating from Tulsa's Will
Rogers High School.
In 1960, she married Bob Green, a Miami disc jockey, with whom she eventually
raised four children, including Gloria and Robert Jr. (Bobby).
Her three biggest pop hits were: "Till There Was You" (1959); "Paper Roses" (1960)
(successfully covered 13 years later by Marie Osmond); and "In My Little Corner
of the World" (1960). She placed a total of eleven songs in the Top 100, plus
some in the "Bubbling Under" chart.
There were several albums on the Carlton and Columbia labels. For example:
The 1959 Carlton LP "Anita Bryant" contained Til There Was You, Do-Re-Mi (from
The Sound Of Music), and other show tunes. The 1963 Columbia Greatest Hits LP
contained both Carlton and Columbia songs, including Paper Roses and Step By
Step. In 1964 came the "World Of Lonely People" album (pictured) containing "Welcome,
Welcome Home" and a magical new rendition of "Little Things Mean a Lot" arranged
by Frank Hunter.
In 1969 she became a spokeswoman for the Florida Citrus Commission, and
nationally televised commercials featured her singing "Come to the Florida
Sunshine tree" and stating the commercials' tagline: "Breakfast without orange
juice is like a day without sunshine".
In addition, during this time, she also did advertisements for Coca-Cola, Kraft
Foods, Holiday Inn, and Tupperware.
1964 album
She sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the graveside services for
Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973, and performed the National Anthem at Super Bowl III
in 1969.