Many American Samoans do not have any idea who Mavis Rivers was, let alone what she is famous for.
But to the world of entertainment she was a jazz diva, and totally Samoan to boot.
She started entertaining with her family band led by her father, Moody Rivers and moved to the territory when the Second World War broke out after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941.
They entertained the many US troops stationed in American Samoa.
The rest as they say is history.
Her career flourished after the family moved to Auckland. A clerical worker for the Farmers’ Trading Company by day, she sang in clubs at night.
She made her first record in 1949 for the new Tanza label and later recorded for Zodiac in a variety of styles.
After a 12-month scholarship at a university in Utah, she returned to American Samoa and worked as a radio DJ.
Mavis Rivers would go on to carve a name for herself in the entertainment world and sang with the likes of Frank Sinatra and others.
“At the time Sinatra was thinking of forming a company, Reprise. This PR lady I knew said, ‘Let’s talk to Frank.’ He said, ‘Of course.’ At the very beginning I was the only girl. There was Sammy [Davis Jr], Frank and me. I stayed with them until they merged with Warner in the late 1960s. Made a lot of singles,” said Mavis in an interview with the New Zealand Herald in 1981 when she appeared in a performance for Queen Elizabeth in Auckland.
Rivers dueted with Sinatra on a Christmas album and was a regular on the cabaret and casino circuit in the US.
She has passed on but the Samoana Jazz and Arts Festival has decided to bring back her memories as a tribute this year.
Executive Director of the festival Peta Si’ulepa explained on Sunrise earlier this week what they have planned.
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Other events are being planned for the three day festival apart from the Lee Auditorium concert which will also feature a host of international guests headlined by Mavis Rivers own son, the Grammy Award winning Matt Gattingub.
These will start at the Tradewinds on Nov 9th with a final relaxing session at Two Dollar beach on Sunday 11 after the big concert.
