Editing Sarah Vaughan (section)

===1954–1959: Mercury years===
[[File:Sarah Vaughan 1955.jpg|thumb|right|Vaughan in 1955]]
In 1953, Treadwell negotiated a contract for Vaughan with [[Mercury Records|Mercury]] in which she would record commercial material for Mercury and jazz-oriented material for its subsidiary, [[EmArcy Records|EmArcy]]. She was paired with producer [[Bob Shad]], and their working relationship yielded commercial and artistic success. Her debut recording session at Mercury took place in February 1954. She remained with Mercury through 1959. After recording for [[Roulette Records|Roulette]] from 1960 to 1963, she returned to Mercury from 1964 to 1967.

Her commercial success at Mercury began with the 1954 hit "Make Yourself Comfortable", recorded in the fall of 1954, and continued with "[[How Important Can It Be]]" (with [[Count Basie]]), "[[Whatever Lola Wants]]", "[[The Banana Boat Song]]", "You Ought to Have a Wife", and "[[Misty (song)|Misty]]". Her commercial success peaked in 1959 with "[[Broken Hearted Melody]]", a song she considered "corny" which nevertheless became her first gold record,<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book |first= Joseph |last= Murrells |year= 1978 |title= The Book of Golden Discs |edition= 2 |publisher= Barrie and Jenkins |location= London |page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/120 120] |isbn= 0-214-20512-6 |url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/120 }}</ref> and a regular part of her concert repertoire for years to come. Vaughan was reunited with Billy Eckstine for a series of duet recordings in 1957 that yielded the hit "[[Passing Strangers (1957 song)|Passing Strangers]]". Her commercial recordings were handled by a number of arrangers and conductors, primarily [[Hugo Peretti]] and [[Hal Mooney]].

The jazz "track" of her recording career proceeded apace, backed either by her working trio or combinations of jazz musicians. One of her favorite albums was a [[Sarah Vaughan (1955 album)|1954 sextet date]] that included [[Clifford Brown]].

In the latter half of the 1950s, she followed a schedule of almost non-stop touring. She was featured at the first [[Newport Jazz Festival]] in the summer of 1954 and starred in subsequent editions of that festival at Newport and in New York City for the remainder of her life. In the fall of 1954, she performed at [[Carnegie Hall]] with the Count Basie Orchestra on a bill that also included [[Billie Holiday]], Charlie Parker, [[Lester Young]] and the [[Modern Jazz Quartet]]. That fall, she again toured Europe before embarking on a "Big Show" U.S. tour, a succession of performances that included [[Count Basie]], George Shearing, [[Erroll Garner]] and [[Jimmy Rushing]]. At the 1955 New York Jazz Festival on [[Randalls and Wards Islands|Randalls Island]], Vaughan shared the bill with the [[Dave Brubeck]] quartet, [[Horace Silver]], [[Jimmy Smith (musician)|Jimmy Smith]], and the [[Johnny Richards]] Orchestra.

Although the professional relationship between Vaughan and Treadwell was quite successful through the 1950s, their personal relationship finally reached a breaking point and she filed for a divorce in 1958. Vaughan had entirely delegated financial matters to Treadwell, and despite significant income figures reported through the 1950s, at the settlement Treadwell said that only $16,000 remained. The couple evenly divided the amount and their personal assets, terminating their business relationship.

She made her UK debut in 1958 on [[Sunday Night at the London Palladium]] with several songs including "Who's Got the Last Laugh Now".<ref>Rebroadcast of Sunday Night at the London Palladium May 17, 2020</ref>