Born on October18, 1919 in Kansas City, Missouri, but raised in Chicago, Anita O'Day was a jazz singer whose tumultuous lifestyle kept her in the public eye for much of her career.  Starting as a marathon dancer during the Great Depression, she got her first break in 1938 when DownBeat editor Carl Cons hired her to sing at the Off-Beat Club with the Max Miller Quartet.  Remembering this gig, Gene Krupa called her to sing with his band in 1941.  A novelty recording with Roy Eldridge was a surprise hit, resuulting in a fourth place finish in the 1942 DownBeat Poll... and her first marriage - to golfer Carl Hoff.  After Krupa's 1943 marijuana bust, the band folded - but Ms O'Day was hired by Woody Herman for a month at the Hollywood Palladium.  She recorded with Stan Kenton in 1944 and the revived Krupa band in '45.  By 1947 when she was busted herself, she worked with both the Kenton and Herman bands, followed by Count Basie in 1948.  Having come to the attention of Norman Granz, she recorded a string of 17 albums on Granz' Norgran and Verve labels between 1952 and 1962, often with a trio featuring John Poole (her drummer for 40 years).  In 1958 she appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, in 1959 she toured with Benny Goodman.  A heroin overdose in 1968 took her down, but she bounced back.  By 1970 she was doing the Berlin Jazz Festival and appearing in movies - Zig Zag (1970) and The Outfit (1974).  Her bestselling 1981 memoir, High Times, Hard Times led to appearances on all the major talk shows. In 1985, Ms O'Day played Carnegie Hall.  A serious fall in 1996 slowed her down considerably, but she was back for a final curtain call in 2006 - the album Indestructible.  She died of a heart attack later that year.