Mary Lou Brewer (1923-2006) was born Mary Lucille Breen in Washington, D.C. She married Joseph Warren Brewer in 1942 right after her graduation from high school.
By the time her singing career in Washington was picking up in 1954 they had five children between the ages of 2 and 11. Her singing was done on weekends, occasional one-nighters, and as a fill-in singer before earning a longer term engagement singing at the Hotel 2400. After several guest spots on Jerry Strong’s TV show, she became a regular cast member. After appearing on Les Sand’s show in 1955 he became her manager and partner.
From the back cover:
Mary Lou Brewer is "The Queen Of The Red-Hot Mamas". As a young girl in Washington, Mary Lou Brewer showed exceptional ability in the field of music, and was hardly out of school when she began to sing professionally. A radio guest shot on the Bill Herson Show resulted in return engagements which brought Mary Lou back to the program week after week, and more and more offers began to come in. She sang on the Jerry Strong Show on WMAL-TV, with The Royal Tones in the Officers Clubs at the Military bases in the Washington area, and then with Les Sand's WTTG-TV show "Sans Script." After Mary Lou had appeared on the Les Sand show twice, Sand was so impressed that he became her manager and partner. More opportunities soon opened up in Washington -at the Hotel Shoreham, the Statler, and solid year in the Riviera Room of the Hotel 2400. When the partners decided that Mary Lou was ready for the Big Time they went off to New York to audition for the Arthur Godfrey Talent Show. A week after her appearance on the Talent Show of February 17, 1958, Mary Lou got a call from the Godfrey office… "Mr. Godfrey would like to have you his morning show for a week starting this Monday." For a week Mary Lou sang the songs that caused Mr. Godfrey to say, "We've got a new Queen of the Red-Hot Mammas." At the end of the first week she was held over for a second week, and then for a third week, with promises of return engagements of the show. Now, for her first album for Westminster, Mary Lou Brewer offers a group of wonderful performances under the able baton of Sy Shaffer (of the Godfrey morning show). Sy, in addition to conducting the band for the session, also wrote all the sparkling arrangements.
Brewer seemed to disappear a few years after her initial success, but was back singing in Washington clubs again in 1968.
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