The album was recorded in four sessions between March and October 1953 with Henri Rene and His Orchestra [citation needed].

[3] Many of the songs recorded for this album, such as "C'est si bon", "Uska Dara" and "I Want to Be Evil" became closely associated with Eartha Kitt, and were performed live by her until one of her last concerts at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, shortly before her death in December 2008.

[13] As 12-inch records became more popular, RCA Victor re-issued RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt as a 12-inch record with four new songs from That Bad Eartha (EP), releasing it synonymously a year after the extended play's release.

This is now considered to be the standard track listing of That Bad Eartha in all countries except the United Kingdom, where this version was not officially released until 1958,[11] three years after a ten-track, long play version of That Bad Eartha (EP) was released in the country as a stand-alone album.

[13] During the early 1980s this version of the album was re-issued by RCA on 12-inch in the Netherlands entitled "The Classics" That Bad Eartha.

In 2006, a version of the album featuring 12 bonus tracks would be released in Italy displaying a new cover designed from an alternate shot of Kitt from the same photo shoot for her original album covers for Down to Eartha and Thursday's Child, two months later it was briefly released in the US.

[23][24] The album has since been issued in its entirety on CD by numerous record labels,[25] often in multi-album compilations, throughout the world,[12] and inevitably as a digital download.

[26][27][28] As of 2007 this album falls into public domain in Europe and is issued freely, without consent from RCA or its parent company Sony Music Entertainment.

[12][29] This was a seven-inch extended play released in Japan of the same name consisting of three songs from different versions of the album and "Santa Baby".

[31] Orchestra and chorus members adapted from the liner notes of the 2006 Universe Italy CD release.