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ent001379-030

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ent001379-030
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University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

GIA MAI ONE IS NOW 23 YEARS OF AGE She was born May 29, 1941, In Robling, New Jersey. Her parents are Thomas and Ann Maione. She has one sister, June, who is three years older than she. The family moved to Bordentown, New Jersey, when she was a few weeks old. At the age of three years, she knew all of the fop tunes on the Juke Box in her father?╟╓s nightclub. She attended school in Bordentown through the sixth grade, at which time the family moved to Toms River, New Jersey. She started studying piano and voice when she was only nine years old under Miss Alma Steedman of Toms River. During her Sophomore year of High School, Gia had the lead in the Senior Musical "South Pacific", in the role of Nellie Forbush. As a Senior in High School, she placed first runner-up in the Miss Ocean County Pageant. Upon her graduation from High School, she received the Arian National Society Award for outstanding ability and achievement in musical education. This gave her three scholarships to any musical college of her choice. After graduation, she accepted an offer to work in a trio with her brother-in-law who is an organist. They worked in Ft. Myers, Florida, at the Hideaway Supper Club, where Gia played drums and sang. They played there for two full seasons, after which she returned home and got a job working at a Howard Johnson's Restaurant as Hostess. All through the years, she had been collecting Louis Prima albums and had memorized each arrangement, down to the last note. When Gia heard that Louis Prima was playing at the Latin Casino and that auditions were being held for vocalists, she persuaded her parents to take her there. Gia immediately got the job and made her first appearance at Basin Street East in New York City a few nights later#with Louis Prima, Sam Butera and The Witnesses.