Sex Kitten

"I was very flattered by the sex-kitten thing because I never thought of myself as that."

I was going to save this for a Tacky Music Monday, but hey! - it's a miserable wet Saturday and we need some cheering up.

It's the 71st birthday today of that one-woman show-stopper Miss Ann-Margret (possibly Sweden's finest export after Abba), and I found this clip of her in her younger days, doing what she does best - Isn't It Kinda Fun?. Indeed!

Ann-Margret - Isn't It Kinda Fun? (State Fair, 1962)

Facts about Ann-Margret:

• In 1957, she appeared as a contestant on the "Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour", and lost to a man who played Lady of Spain on a leaf.
• Apparently we have George Burns to thank for helping launch her singing career, when he "discovered" her singing in Las Vegas nightclubs.
• A terrible fall off stage in 1972 resulted in massive fractures to her face that almost ended her career.
• Among her rumoured romances were Eddie Fisher, Frankie Avalon and Elvis Presley.
• In latter years she has tended to collect motorcycles more than men.
• Only this month, she was subject of a rather sick internet hoax story, when rumours were spread (originating in an "entertainment" site that specialises in made-up stories) that she had died in a cliff fall in New Zealand.

Thankfully the lady is very much alive - and the world of va-va-voom is a better place for that.

Grattis på födelsedagen!

Ann-Margret official website