Lu Ann Simms
American singer (1932-2003)
Lu Ann Simms (born Lucille Anne Ciminelli; July 11, 1932 – September 21, 2003) was an American singer well known in the 1950s. A performer since the age of three, she became an overnight star in 1952 after winning first place on the singing contest Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts; she subsequently joined the Arthur Godfrey cast and appeared on his radio and television programs Arthur Godfrey Time, Arthur Godfrey and His Friends, The Arthur Godfrey Digest, and King Arthur Godfrey and His Round Table. She was also featured on the daytime Robert Q. Lewis show, and also appeared when Lewis was substituting for Godfrey.
Career
Born in Rochester, New York, to father Aldridge Ciminelli and mother June Fox, Simms gave her first public performance on Rochester's WHEC radio aged three, singing "When You Wore a Tulip", which went down well with the audience. She attended Ss. Peter and Paul School, before continuing to Our Lady of Mercy High School. While a teenager, she sang at The Barn, also known as Gannett Youth Club, an alcohol-free venue for young people in Henrietta, every Saturday night. Simms also sold records in the Columbia Music & Appliance Store, where she earned $35 a week.
When Simms visited relatives in New York City, she got her break, appearing on Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts. From 1952 to 1955, Simms appeared on radio and television six days a week, at times for a total of eight separate weekly broadcasts, all with CBS for Godfrey and for Robert Q. Lewis.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lu Ann Simms” is american singer (1932-2003). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Simms, American and singer, not as a finished interpretation.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q37647181. VIAF identifies the subject as 34071195. The Library of Congress control number is no98035949. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1932, 2003, 1952 and 1955.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lu Ann Simms” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.