If your memories of Marilyn Monroe as a singer mostly consist of her breathy rendition of “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” offered up to Jack Kennedy or brassy numbers like “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” then you might be surprised to hear that there is a movement afoot to reexamine her vocalizing. According to a recent article in the New York Times, many experts are taking another listen to some of the material she left behind, and it appears that her singing — like her acting — was much better than she was given credit for during her lifetime.
One thing is certain. She took music seriously, spending a lot of time with voice coaches and also studying the greats, like Ella Fitzgerald. In fact, she helped pave the way for Ella to appear in previously restricted clubs, and the two became very good friends. In later years Ella always gave her credit for helping further her career.
Even in Marilyn’s early movies she often found opportunities to sing, and although pros like Marni Nixon occasionally dubbed a few notes here and there, most of what we heard was the star’s real voice. She continued to sing in a surprising number of movies through the years, and those performances demonstrated a voice that varied widely but had real talent behind it.
Like most singers (and non-singers too) her voice became a little huskier as she grew older, but she could carry a tune and deliver the goods. Her most noticeable characteristic to my ear is that she was often tentative, especially in the early passages of standards like “A Fine Romance” and “When I Fall In Love.” She was at her best when she set the tone early and stayed with it, as with “River Of No Return,” which was released as a single and did very well.
But she was still Marilyn Monroe, and in a quote from Collier’s Magazine in 1954, she spelled it out like this: “I won’t be satisfied until people want to hear me sing without looking at me. Of course, that doesn’t mean I want them to stop looking.”
Marilyn Monroe – “River Of No Return”
Geezer Music Club 
Good ole Marilyn. I have enjoyed a lot of her movies. She was just fine. I’m so glad you did this on her. Thanks
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It’s a piece that I really enjoyed writing. Glad you liked it.
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she´s so wonderful, i want to read more about her singer carrer, fox make her a star but not treat she as one, she make so much money to them i think life doesn´t fair with her.
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Love her singing but believe River of No Return was dubbed by Gloria Wood, an accomplished singer who dubbed many greats and could mimic Marilyn and many others dead on.
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You might be right, Mark, at least as far as the movie goes, but the issue is uncertain. IMDB contradicts itself, showing Gloria Wood in the trivia about the movie but listing MM in the soundtrack. Allmusic credits MM for the song and she did issue a record that did well in sales. In fact, that’s the version I originally posted on this article.
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The song “When I Fall In Love”, attributed to Marilyn on so many compilations of her music, beginning in 1985, is actually actress Sandra Dee singing. I have Sandra’s 45 rpm record which was released in 1962. “River of No Return” is definitely Marilyn singing. I’ve been studying and collecting Marilyn’s music since the late 1970’s and have all 36 of her recordings, many in multiple takes and edits. It’s nice to have discovered another Marilyn fan site.
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That’s interesting, Willis. Sounds really strange but we know the recording industry has always had some odd happenings on records, like the mix-up with Bobby Bare.
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I’ve followed Marilyn since I was a little girl. And I found her to be beautiful, talented and sad. Her and I have similar backgrounds and she is a inspirational person to me. Thank you for writing this.
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