System Mechanic - Clean, repair, protect, and speed up your PC!Gisele MacKenzie
January 10, 1927 - September 05, 2003
Singer-actress Gisele MacKenzie died Friday, September 5, 2003, at Providence St. Joseph's Medical Center in Burbank, California, of colon cancer. She was 76.
MacKenzie was born Gisele Lefleche, on January 10, 1927, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to a Winnipeg doctor and a musically gifted mother. MacKenzie demonstrated her gift for music early by playing the piano when she was only two years old. Her family took her musical gifts seriously, and soon, she was playing the violin and learning to sing.
When she married, she adopted her husband's last name, making her Gisele MacKenzie. She received her first professional job playing in the Bob Shuttleworth Band; Shuttleworth later became MacKenzie's manager.
After formal training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, she launched her musical career with her own CBC radio show, "Meet Gisele" in 1946. The program ran for about four years and contributed to MacKenzie becoming known as simply "Gisele" in Canada, and, as Canada's “First Lady of Song”.
While entertaining her listeners, MacKenzie was discovered by some vacationing talent scouts who heard her show and passed her name along to Hollywood radio personality Bob Crosby. Crosby was considering a new format for his own radio show, so MacKenzie was signed on to co-star on the new "Bob Crosby Club 15" program. During her time in Hollywood, the ambitious MacKenzie found time for other creative activities. She recorded songs for Capitol Records, appeared at top Las Vegas nightclubs, and made guest appearances on Mario Lanza's radio program.
While appearing in a nightclub in Las Vegas, Jack Benny saw her and invited her to become a regular on 'The Jack Benny Show'. With MacKenzie's ability to play violin, they developed their amusing "violin duets" which became a regular highlight of the show. Following her stint with Benny, she joined TV's 'Your Hit Parade', and for five years, counted down the Top-10 hits of the week into homes throughout North America.
Her success on the show coincided with her own personal recording triumphs. In 1957, she became the first Hit Parader to sing her own personal number one hit, "Hard To Get, " on the show, which was number one for 13 weeks. Her first four albums -- Gisele MacKenzie, Mam'selle Gisele, Christmas With Gisele and Gisele -- were released on the Vik label, a division of RCA Records. Hard to Get: The Best of Gisele MacKenzie is an anthology devoted to the songs she recorded while at RCA. Also on the RCA label is a series of children's albums she produced for the Cricket Playhour.
MacKenzie went on to star in her own show, 'The Gisele MacKenzie Show' (1957-58), where she played host to guests like Dinah Shore, Jimmy Durante and Dean Martin.
In the early '60s, MacKenzie released three albums -- Gisele MacKenzie At the Empire Room of the Waldorf Astoria, Gisele MacKenzie Sings Lullaby and Goodnight, and Losers' Lullabies -- and later toured the United States. She sang in nightclubs and performed the lead vocals in such musicals as The King and I, South Pacific, Hello Dolly and The Unsinkable Molly Brown. In 1963, she reappeared on TV with ABC's The Sid Caesar Show, singing a song each week, and sometimes playing Sid Caesar's fourth wife.
She continued to appear regularly on television into the 1990s, on such shows as Studio One, The Hollywood Squares, Murder, She Wrote, MacGyver and Boy Meets World. She never lost her interest in singing while pursuing an acting career and in 1996 wrote an anthem to the city of Los Angeles called "My City, L.A., " which proved quite popular in the city.
MacKenzie then retired from showbiz to live in North Hollywood, keeping herself busy by appearing on television talk shows and commercials.
Her survivors include a daughter, Gigi Downs and a son, Mac Shuttleworth.
