Ricki Covette(1925-2016)

Burlesque dancer Ricki Covette was born Irene Siewert Jewell on February 26, 1925 in Onoway, Alberta, Canada. Covette grew up on a homestead in rural Canada with aspirations of being a singer and dancer. Through a combination of training, hard work, and professionalism, Ricki eventually moved to America to make her dream of becoming a dancer come true. A statuesque blonde who stood at a towering 6'8", Covette was often billed as a Glamazon, an Amazon woman, or The World's Tallest Exotic Dancer in a career as a headliner at nightclubs that flourished and thrived throughout the 1950's, 1960's, and 1970's, with a stellar run of 82 weeks in total at The Show Bar on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana rating as a definite career highlight. She was voted Miss Burlesk in 1955 and played Gymnasia in a 1963 touring production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." In the wake of retiring from the burlesque circuit, Ricki went on to work in real estate and, in her later years, was a volunteer at the Costa Mesa Senior Center in Costa Mesa, California. Moreover, Covette donated six of her personal albums to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in October, 2014. She died at age 90 on February 12, 2016 in Costa Mesa, California.