| Starring Sammy Davis Jr. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | January 1955 | |||
| Recorded | 1954 | |||
| Genre | Vocal | |||
| Length | 37:02 | |||
| Label | Decca | |||
| Sammy Davis Jr. chronology | ||||
| ||||
Starring Sammy Davis Jr. is the debutstudio album bySammy Davis Jr., recorded in 1954.
Five of the songs onStarring Sammy Davis Jr. had been previously released as singles ("Hey There," "And This Is My Beloved," "Because of You," "Glad to Be Unhappy," and "Birth of the Blues"), one of which, "Hey There" had reached the Top 20.[1]
Davis was involved in a serious car accident on November 19, 1954, that resulted in the loss of his left eye. He was still wearing an eye patch on the cover of this, his debut LP, released months later.[1]
The album became Davis' first and only number one album on theBillboard 200, making him the first African American solo artist and singer to accomplish this. Previous number-one by other African American recording acts were part of groups, includingNat King Cole's King Cole Trio,The Ink Spots and bandleaderBenny Goodman.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
TheAllMusic review by William Ruhlmann awarded the album three and a half stars and said that the final track "The Birth of the Blues", "succeeded in giving the listener a sense of what Davis was like in live performance".[2]
