Rose Murphy; Pop Singer of ‘40s, ‘50s

Rose Murphy, the bountiful bundle of energy known as “The Chee-Chee Girl” for her bird-like vocal interpretations of several popular tunes of the 1940s and ‘50s, has died in New York City, where she had lived for many years.

She was 76 and died Nov. 16.

Her high-pitched rendition of such popular standards as “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love,” “Cecilia,” “Coquette” and “Honeysuckle Rose” on records and in nightclubs delighted America more than 40 years ago.

She would sing, chirp and hum those and other melodies in her high-pitched voice, periodically substituting “chee-chee” for a word in the lyric.

A Los Angeles favorite for many years at Jim Otto’s Steak House on La Cienega where she was the intermission pianist for the old Nat (King) Cole Trio, Miss Murphy was born in Ohio where she began playing piano in the third grade. By 1939 she was working at New York’s Famous Door Club playing between sets of the Count Basie band.

In 1948 she made her first records for Majestic and the results became popular favorites of that time. In clubs she sang, played and exchanged banter with her audience and was likened to Fats Waller for her ability to find new humor in old standards.

Her last local appearance was in 1987 at the Cinegrill in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.