Josephine Baker - You're Driving Me Crazy (What Did I Do?) 1931 Slideshow video free download

Josephine Baker (June 3, 1906 -- April 12, 1975) was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. Nicknamed the "Bronze Venus," the "Black Pearl," and even the "Créole Goddess" in anglophone nations. Born in East St. Louis, Illinois.

Surviving the 1917 riots in East St. Louis, Illinois, where the family was living, Josephine Baker ran away a few years later at age thirteen and began dancing in vaudeville and on Broadway. In 1925, Josephine Baker went to Paris where, after the jazz revue La Revue Nègre failed, her comic ability and jazz dancing drew attention of the director of the Folies Bergère.

Josephine Baker was much more famous as a cabaret performer, dancer and personality than as a jazz singer but, as she shows on some of these early recordings, she could swing and improvise when she wanted to.

"You're Driving Me Crazy" is a U.S. popular song composed (music and lyrics) by Walter Donaldson for the 1930 musical comedy Smiles. It was recorded the same year by Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (with vocal by Carmen Lombardo) and became a hit. It was also recorded in 1930 by McKinney's Cotton Pickers and in 1931 by Rudy Vallee & His Connecticut Yankees and by Nick Lucas & His Crooning Troubadors.

"You're Driving Me Crazy" has become a standard that has been recorded by over 100 artists in many genres. The signature line: "You, you're driving me crazy! What did I do?...." is familiar to most anyone who listened to pop music in the 20th Century.

East St. Louis, Illinois

Birthplace of Singer Josephine Baker, Jimmy Connors, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee

East St. Louis, Illinois

United States

On This Very Spot in 1956, Ike Turner and Tina Turner first met at the Club Manhattan.

On This Very Spot were born Josephine Baker, Jimmy Connors, and Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

On This Very Spot lived Miles Davis and dancer and choriographer Katherine Dunham.

On This Very Spot blues musicians Albert King and B. B. King have communal ties.