Margie Madden, best known on stage as Margie Anderson, was born in Boston, where she also began her journey in music. In the late 1940s, she first stepped onto the local club scene, captivating audiences with a sincere voice and a stage presence that hinted at the promise ahead.

In 1950, she was offered the opportunity to record for Columbia Records. Her first 78 rpm release featured an original composition by saxophonist Gigi Gryce, “You’ll Be Always the One I Love,” along with a playful number co-written with pianist Duke Anderson, titled “Hurry, Hurry, Margie.” Soon after, Columbia issued a second disc including “Always I Love Him” and “It’s Time You Cried.” Throughout the 1950s, Margie built a steady career performing in clubs and black-cast variety shows—not only in Boston but also through out the Northeast and into Canada. Her name became familiar to musicians and audiences alike.

In early 1959, she recorded what would be her only full-length LP: “The Blues.” The album featured a tight-knit group of top Boston soloists—many of them members of the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra—with arrangements and direction by Bob Freedman, who also played alto saxophone on the session. A central figure in Boston’s jazz scene, Freedman had made a name for himself in the early 1950s as the pianist of his own trio, and by 1955, as a member of the quintet at Boston’s legendary Hi-Hat Club, backing Charlie Parker. He later joined Pomeroy’s band on alto sax, contributed several key arrangements, and conducted an acclaimed version of Duke Ellington’s Anatomy of a Murder soundtrack (FSRCD-987), recorded with members of the orchestra. Freedman also wrote for Maynard Ferguson’s big band, scoring his first major success in 1958 with “And We Listened (to Him),” a tribute to baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan. His career also included stints playing baritone sax with the bands of Woody Herman (1957) and Duke Ellington (1963).

In 1959, Freedman again worked with Margie, conducting the orchestra and chorus behind two singles released on Scope Records. On the first, she sang “I Can Dream, Can’t I?” and the gospel standard “When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder.” On the second, released under her birth name Margie Madden, she recorded “If I Could Make a String of Pearls” and “If You Won’t Love Me.”

By 1960, Margie released her final single, this time for ABC-Paramount. It featured “Dream of Love” and “Somebody Cares,” arranged and conducted by Stan Applebaum, whose lush orchestral settings added a rich finish to her studio legacy.

Though she stepped away from recording, Margie remained devoted to performance. In the late 1990s, she embarked on a European tour accompanied by pianist Edgar Wilson, drummer Alvin Queen, and bassist Jimmy Woode, an old friend from her early Boston club dates.

Now retired from the music scene, Margie continues to live in Boston—the city where it all began. Her legacy endures as a voice of elegance, honesty, and soul from a golden era of American jazz and blues.

—Jordi Pujol (From the inside liner notes of FSR V147 CD)