television show, Tonight. This led to a record contract with Atlantic Records in 1957, for which she had her next big hit, "Little Blue Man", A novelty number which featured Fred Ebb as the voice of the "Little Blue Man", repeatingly saying: "I Rov You... to Bits". 'Johnson continued on Tonight until 1962 when Paar was replaced by Johnny Carson, while also making appearances on a number of other television shows. In 1964 she married Arthur Gray, an investment banker in New York City. She had two daughters, Elisabeth (born 1968) and Lydia (born 1966), from this marriage. From then until 1993 she mostly stayed out of show business, going to college (attending some classes at Dartmouth College beginning in 1977, but ultimately getting her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New Hampshire in 1981). In 1984 and 1985, Johnson appeared as Essie Miller in the Goodspeed Opera Houses revival of TAKE ME ALONG! In 1993, she returned to show business, appearing at the Algonquin Hotel in New York and subsequently starting her own record label, Bliss Tavern Music, for which she continued to make recordings. Her recent projects include Four Shades of Gray; a collaboration with her daughters Lydia Gray, Elisabeth Gray and granddaughter Betty Gray and the restoration and remastering from LPs of The Take Five Sessions Betty recorded in NYC with the Lou Garisto Quartet on the late 1950s through early 1960s. Johnson died at her home in South Carolina on November 6, 2022, at the age of 93. Biggest hit singles "I Want Eddie Fisher for Christmas" (1954) "I Dreamed" (1956) "1492" (1957) "Little White Lies" (1957) "The Song You Heard When You Fell in Love" (1957) (Top 40, Canada) "Little Blue Man" (1958) "Dream" (1958) "You Can't Get to Heaven" (1959) "Slipping Around" (1960) References External links Official Website Betty Johnson Papers, 1947-2012, UNC University Libraries John Walters - The Unsinkable Betty Johnson Johnson Family Singers and Betty Johnson www.historysouth.org 1931 births 2022 deaths American women pop singers Cabaret singers Traditional pop music singers People from Guilford County, North Carolina 21st-century American women