Pat Suzuki

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Pat Suzuki
Background information
Birth name	Chiyoko Suzuki
Also known as	Pat Suzuki
Born	1930s
Genre(s)	Broadway, crooners
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Label(s)	RCA
Associated acts	Broadway cast Flower Drum Song

Pat Suzuki is a Japanese- and Asian-American female singer most famous for her role and cast recording of the Broadway hit musical Flower Drum Song, especially I Enjoy Being a Girl.

Pat Suzuki was born in Cressy, (Northern) California on September 23, in the early 1930s. She was nicknamed "Chiby", which was Japanese for "squirt" as the youngest sister.

She sang at church on Sundays. Pat and her family were forced to enter internment camps during WWII. She attending San Jose State. In New York she was in a touring production of "Tea House of the August Moon". She got a permanent job in Seattle after the owner of a local club, called The Colony, was impressed.

Bing Crosby happened to catch her act one summer night in 1957, leading to the 1958 album, titled "The Many Sides of Pat Suzuki". She appeared on the "The Frank Sinatra Show", which also led to a role in Rodgers & Hammerstein's broadway production of "Flower Drum Song". The broadway soundtrack of I Enjoy Being A Girl has since been used in many movies and even viral videos up to the 21st century, though few are familiar that it was performed by an Asian American. Although William Hung is the most widely recognized Asian American performer today, Suzuki's politically incorrect hit is certainly among the most widely recognizable hit recordings by any Asian American artist. The movie part was given to Nancy Kwan, a Hollywood veteran, with the singing voice played by a non-Asian backup singer.

Her husband was photographer Mark Shaw, and they had a son. Throughout the 1970s, she continued to perform and record her music. She appeared in Pat Morita's on the short-lived sitcom Mr. T and Tina, the first sitcom starring an Asian-American family. She has supported Asian-American rights, and continues to perform at forums such as Lincoln Center. In 1999 she released "The Very Best of Pat Suzuki". Her records are on display at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, as the only Asian artist featured there.

[edit] References

• Pat Suzuki at the Internet Movie Database