The ears of Manhattan night-livers were happily tuned last week to a pair of pretty girl singers. Caterina Valente had already gone far all the way from Germany to the Cotillion Room of the posh Hotel Pierre. Barbara Lea had only gone as far as the tiny downtown and downstairs Village Vanguard, but she was already breaking many of the customers' hearts twice nightly.
Modified Moorish. Songstress Valente first burst on the U.S. scene last winter with a brassy but strangely appealing version of Malagueña (Decca). Her high, uninhibited voice soared with the echoing strings, and the record became a hit...