Margaret Whiting, a recording star of the 1940s who had a long career as one of the most enduring singers of classic popular songs, died Tuesday at a retirement home in Englewood, N.J. She was 86. The cause of death was not disclosed, although she had had a stroke in recent years.

Whiting was among the first singers to introduce some of the best-loved tunes in what is often called the Great American Songbook, including “That Old Black Magic,” “Moonlight in Vermont,” “It Might as Well Be Spring” and “My Ideal,” which was co-written by her father, Richard Whiting.

One of the most popular singers of her era, Whiting had a dozen million-selling records and presented hundreds of shows for the military during World War II. In later life, she became a cabaret star and was part of one of the odder couples in show business with her fourth husband, Jack Wrangler, a star of gay pornographic films who was 22 years her junior.

Whiting grew up in Hollywood, where many of the most celebrated tunesmiths of the golden age of popular song were frequent guests at her family home.

Her father, who wrote “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Too Marvelous for Words,” as well as the lyrics to “She’s Funny That Way,” said his daughter was the inspiration for one of his best-loved songs, “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” which became the signature song of Shirley Temple.

 

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