Real name: Muriel Burrell Smith

Effective period / Period of releases: 1953 - 1961

Muriel Burrell Smith, Born New York (23 February 1923 – 13 September 1985) was an African-American mezzo-soprano. In the 1940s and 1950s, she was a star of musical theater and opera, and was also the off-film ghost singer in several hit movies. She is perhaps best known in the UK for her 1953 #3 hit, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", which was first covered in 1965 by Mel Carter (and which remains a staple of easy listening and oldies radio to this day) and later in 1994 by Gloria Estefan. She died in relative obscurity in 1985.