Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a musical comedy double act developed by American conductor and arranger Paul Weston ( March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996), and his wife, singer Jo Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008).

The routine was conceived in the 1950s, and involved Weston playing songs on the piano in unconventional rhythms, while Stafford sang off-key in a high pitched voice.

Weston first assumed the role of a bad lounge pianist in the mid-1950s, as a way of entertaining guests at Hollywood parties, but was urged to record an album of songs in the unconventional style after giving an impromptu performance in 1956.

Stafford, a classically trained singer with the ability to sing both in and out of tune, readily agreed, and named her character Darlene Edwards.

Their first album, The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards was released in 1957, but Weston and Stafford did not admit to being behind the act until Time magazine identified them in an article in September 1957.

The Jonathan and Darlene Edwards act won the couple many fans, including some among their show business peers such as the pianist George Shearing, but their 1979 cover of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" was disliked by the band.

[3] He put on an impromptu performance of the act the following year at a Columbia Records sales convention in Key West, Florida, after hearing a particularly bad hotel pianist.

The audience was very appreciative of his rendition of "Stardust", particularly Columbia executives George Avakian and Irving Townsend, who encouraged Weston to make an album of such songs.

[4][5] Stafford's creation of Darlene Edwards had its roots in the novelty songs that Mitch Miller, the head of Columbia's artists and repertoire department, had been selecting for her to sing.

[4] When the album was released, former Pied Pipers member and Los Angeles-based radio personality Dick Whittinghill told his listeners that Darlene Edwards was the best female singer he'd ever heard, then played one of the tracks—"It's Magic".

[3] As a publicity stunt, Weston and Stafford claimed that Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a New Jersey lounge act which they had discovered, and denied any personal connection.

In an article titled Two Right Hands in September 1957, Time magazine reported that some people believed the performers were Harry and Margaret Truman, but the same piece identified Weston and Stafford as the Edwardses.

Paul Weston once played golf with the head of a major corporation; somehow the small talk during the game came around to an album the executive had purchased during a New York visit.

[14] The same year also saw a brief resurgence in the popularity of Jonathan and Darlene albums when their cover of "Carioca" was featured as the opening and closing theme to The Kentucky Fried Movie.

[16] As the Edwardses they claimed to have been the Westons' house guests for the past 25 years, but were overshadowed by the couple, who would send them off into the bedroom whenever people from the media called.

Edwards was an avid reader of Etude Magazine as a youngster; the piano lessons his mother arranged for him ended badly because the teacher did not like his adventurous nature.

[4] In somewhat of a tongue-in-cheek review, the music journalist Leonard Feather gave The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards a rating of 48 stars—one for each of the then 48 States of the Union.