The spunky singer and fond New Orleanian celebrates her 80th birthday today. Her contribution to music is enormous. How someone can be so magnanimous and so approachable is a mystery to me that I want to know more about. My hunch is that Irma is a deeply spiritual person.
As a teenage waitress, Irma got fired by her boss, because she sang on the job. She did not waste any time though and joined the band. It took off right away. By the age of 21, she was raising four children, her second marriage was falling apart, and she wrote her unforgettable song Wish Someone Would Care. “It was a song from my heart. That’s probably why it sold so well. I really wanted someone to care, to stand beside me and care,” she stated in an interview.
Music Inside Out talked with the Soul Queen for 50 min:
https://www.wwno.org/post/irmas-sound-music-inside-out
And a beautiful tune for you….
“Sing it one more time like that. Sing it with me. Please don’t let me sing alone. Sing it one more time like that. Sing these troubles off my back. Sing it one more time like that before you goooo.”
Nanda Jurela 