Big Band Vocalists Revisited - Part 2

HELEN WARD, BOB EBERLY, FRAN WARREN, and JOHNNY DESMOND in the late ‘70s with SY OLIVER

PEGGY LEE

Born, as a 1972 Capitol album of hers acknowledged, Norma Deloris Eggstrom, Peggy created a polished, sophisticated persona as a singer and songwriter. Her first big break came when she was hired as ’s vocalist in 1941. She married Goodman’s guitarist, Dave Barbour, in 1943, so Benny fired Barbour and Peggy then quit. Perhaps all for the best, since during the next several decades, she got recording offers from Capitol and Decca, wrote songs, acted in films (“The Singer,” “Pete Kelly’s Blues”), and provided speaking and singing voices for several characters in Disney’s “Lady and the Tramp.” She experienced poor health and by the 1990s sometimes used a wheelchair to perform, or, as shown by the photo above, remained seated and stationary in a chair. Peggy Lee died from complications of diabetes and a heart attack on Jan. 21, 2002 at the age of 81.

JACK LEONARD

When he was with Tommy Dorsey from 1936 to 1939, Jack was a star! But, after he left the band and entered the military, his popularity declined. Not too many years later, he entered another side of show business. He served as Nat “King” Cole’s personal business manager for 15 years, and later worked in music publishing. In 1970, he was hired by Time-Life to recreate for their “Swing Era” series his vocal on the 1937 Tommy Dorsey version of Marie. A rare television appearance for PBS in 1983 allowed Jack to sing two touching songs, Once in a While and I Hadn’t Anyone Til You, along with his biggest Dorsey hit, Marie. He is pictured above during that show, with saxophonists Phil Bodner and Frank Wess. Jack Leonard died on June 17, 1988 at the age of 75 (even though the obits claimed he was 73). He was survived by his wife, Marilyn, and a daughter.

MARY ANN McCALL

Mary Ann worked in 1939 and 1940 with Woody Herman, Charlie Barnet, and Tommy Reynolds, and, later, in the early 1950s with Artie Shaw and Charlie Ventura. She worked in clubs and lounges, then retired from the music business in the 1960s. But in 1976 she was invited to participate in the 40th anniversary celebration of Woody Herman, held at in , and sang Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams. Incidentally, she was briefly married in 1949 to one of the Herman herds’ tenor saxophonists, Al Cohn (1925-1988). Mary Ann McCall died on Dec. 14, 1994 at the age of 75.

THE MOON MAIDS

In 1946, Vaughn Monroe hired a female singing group to perform with his band. Because Monroe’s theme song, Racing with the Moon, was so strongly identified with him, they were given the name The Moon Maids. (Later, a male group would be added, called The Moon Men.) The Moon Maids included, at various times and in alphabetical order, Kathleen Carnes, Hilda “Tinker” Cunningham Rautenberg (that’s “Tinker” pictured above), June Hiatt Bratone, Dee Laws, Maree Lee, Betty McCormick, Katie Myatt, Mary Jo Thomas Grogan, Arlene Truax, Lois Wilber, and Ruth Wetmer. They stayed with Monroe until 1953. In the 1980s, Tinker joined with Mary Jo, June, and two new voices, Libba Anderson Weeks and Mary Jo’s husband Harold Grogan, to form “The Moonmaids Plus One.” In 2005, we got to meet Tinker when she attended an outing in Florida with The Vaughn Monroe Society (Claire, Herb, Jerry, and other nice folks). Tinker again joined Mary Jo and June to sing at a 2006 program in Florida, celebrating the 80th birthday of Monroe guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli (1926-2020).

AUDREY MORRIS

The music roots for Audrey were planted on the south side of Chicago, where she was born. Listening to the radio, her idols included , Lee Wiley, Mildred Bailey, and Peggy Lee. During the mid-1950s, Audrey worked for Charlie Spivak’s and Claude Thornhill’s bands. But her lasting involvement - and fame - came as a cabaret and jazz singer and pianist, especially in Chicago, at places including Mister Kelly’s and the London House. Her last public performance was in 2017 at an Orchestra Hall tribute to pianist Oscar Peterson. Audrey Morris died Apr. 1, 2018 at the age of 89.

ELLA MAE MORSE .

Ella Mae got off to a great start with Jimmy Dorsey’s and Freddie Slack’s bands. In fact, her 1942 vocal of Cow-Cow Boogie, accompanied by Slack and his musicians, gave Capitol Records their first gold disc, and there were more hits by the combination, such as Mr. Five By Five and House of Blue Lights. From the late ‘40s into the ‘50s, she ventured off on her own and sang, swing, jazz, blues, r&b, even rock ’n’ roll - listen to “Barrelhouse, Boogie, And The Blues” with “Big Dave” Cavanaugh playing the tenor sax and leading the orchestra (a 10” Capitol H 513, expanded to the 12” Capitol T 513). After “The Morse Code” (Capitol T 898) in 1957, backed by a big band conducted by Billy May, she stopped recording. Under the new management of Alan Eichler, her career revived in the 1980s and she performed at smart venues like the Vine St. Bar and Grill in Hollywood and Michael’s Pub in New York, as well as with Ray McKinley at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Ella Mae Morse died of respiratory failure on Oct. 16, 1999 at the age of 75.

HELEN O’CONNELL

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Her fame with Jimmy Dorsey’s band from 1939 to 1943 lasted a lifetime. From 1956-58, she was seen on NBC’s “Today” show, and with Bob Barker she co-hosted the “Miss USA” and “Miss Universe” pageants from 1972 to 1980. She was able to retain her lovely appearance and her voice, too. After she belted out an especially swinging Tangerine at a 1990 “Society of Singers” gathering, Frank Sinatra could be seen gleefully remarking, “She’s still got her chops!” She is shown above in a 1992 portrait. Helen O’Connell died on Sept. 9, 1993 at the age of 73. She was survived by her husband, musician Frank De Vol, whom she wed in 1991, and three of her four daughters from a previous marriage.

ANITA O’DAY .

You might call her a jazz singer, but she preferred the term “song stylist.” Born Anita Belle Colton, it was she who, early on, changed her surname to “O’Day,” which was “Pig Latin” (slang) for “dough” (that is, money, which she hoped to make). She was the vocalist with Gene Krupa 1941-43, with Stan Kenton starting in 1944, and then back with Krupa 1945-46. But, freed from the typical dance band tempos, she excelled at improvising the rhythm and melody of jazz and bop songs. She recorded prolifically for the Norgran and Verve labels between 1952 and 1962, later consenting to do just two vocals for the Time-Life “Swing Era” series - stereo recreations of Boogie Blues and And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine. After a life-threatening accident in 1996 (she fell down the stairs of her home after a drinking binge, was admitted to the hospital with a broken arm, but ended up with severe food poisoning and pneumonia), most of the credit for Anita still being physically able to perform and make a living goes to her manager, Alan Eichler. Anita O’Day died of cardiac arrest on Nov. 23, 2006 at the age of 87.

DOLORES PARKER

She once sang with bands led by Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, and Benny Carter. But she retired from singing and acting in 1956 to be with her husband and daughter. She came out of retirement about 30 years later to dedicate a musical scholarship at Kent State University. She then went on to perform with such northeast Ohio ensembles as The Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, The Akron Symphony Orchestra, and The Kent State University Jazz Ensemble. After a long illness, Dolores Parker died on Dec. 17, 2018 at the age of 99.

HARRY PRIME

Harry’s days as a nationally-famous singer were in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s when he was with Randy Brooks and Tommy Dorsey and Jack Fina and Ralph Flanagan. But he still was singing and had fans more than 50 years later! For a while, changing tastes led him to move back to the Philadelphia area in 1954, where he worked as a disc jockey and radio host. But his love for singing won out, and from 2002 to 2011 he developed a small following whenever he sang at the Roasted Pepper in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, or the Epicure Café in East Falls, or even in the lobby of the Meridian condominium building in Warrington. Harry Prime died of natural causes on June 15, 2017 at the age of 97, survived by sons Kevin, Greg, Rick, John, and Harry and daughters Kim and Bethenia. ANDY RUSSELL

Born Andres Rabago, he worked with the bands of Gus Arnheim and Alvino Rey. Andy specialized in romantic songs sung bilingually, in English and Spanish (although, as he explained to Chris once over the telephone, he was a drummer, too). His greatest fame in the U.S. was during the 1940s, but then he relocated to Mexico in 1954 and, touring extensively in Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and Cuba, he became a singing star of radio, television, movies, records, and nightclubs there, too. One of his last high-profile appearances was on a PBS-TV special, “G.I. Jive.” Andy Russell died on Apr. 16, 1992 at the age of 72.

THE SENTIMENTALISTS

The Sentimentalists were, in reality, The Clark Sisters: Mary, Peggy, Ann, and Jean. They became the vocal group with Tommy Dorsey after the departure of The Pied Pipers. Dorsey, “The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing” and whose theme song was I’m Gettin’ Sentimental Over You, gave them the name “The Sentimentalists.” When Mary left, she was replaced by Lillian Ventimiglia (1925-1996), who became an “honorary” Clark sister. Lillian married Sy Oliver in 1946. There actually were two more Clark sisters at home: Judi and Susan, born in the 1930s. However, when The Sentimentalists decided to leave the Dorsey band, Tommy refused to let them use that name, so they reverted back to The Clark Sisters and went on to make three albums for Coral. In 1990, they were part of a special “Society of Singers” program and they sounded wonderful reprising On the Sunny Side of the Street.

GINNY SIMMS

Ginny made a big impression on the public when she was with Kay Kyser from 1934 to 1941. So when she then went out on her own, she was able to continue performing on radio and in the movies and, later, television. Following her 1951 divorce from Hyatt Hotels founder Hyatt von Dehn, with whom she had two sons, David and Conrad, she became semi-retired - though in 1960 she did make an album for the Tops label (and got re-married two more times). When some real estate developers bought the Ocean Shores Peninsula in the state of Washington, they enlisted singer Pat Boone and Ginny to promote it (and named a condo after her). In 1962, the record label Venise repackaged her Tops LP under the title “’Special Edition’ Seattle World’s Fair: Ginny Simms At Ocean Shores” (no.7018). According to his book Self-Portrait Of A Scoundrel (Walterville, OR: Trine Day LLC, 2013), Chauncey Holt wrotes that Ginny and her third husband, Donald Eastvold, Sr. were forced into bankruptcy, but, rebounding with the time-share business, were able to recover financially and eventually became millionaires. Ginny Simms died from a heart attack on Apr. 4, 1994 at the age of 80.

FRANK SINATRA

Most people knew that Frank sang with in 1939 and joined Tommy Dorsey in 1940. After he went out on his own two years later, he had a few ups and downs (“Regrets, I’ve had a few. But, then again, too few to mention…”) Overall, however, he enjoyed an incredible career! For instance, his large discography includes albums with Billy May, , Neal Hefti, and Duke Ellington. What seems hard to believe is although he never learned to read music, he had a good understanding of it, as what many say was the greatest singer of the 20th Century. Did you know that Sinatra tried, but failed, to buy Verve Records? Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998 at the age of 82.

KEELY SMITH

Keely’s divorce from Louis Prima in 1961 ended her marriage but not her career. She kept singing, including ballads, the blues, even Beatles songs. She made a successful guest appearance on a 1983 PBS-TV special, “Jukebox Saturday Night,” singing such favorites as I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues and It’s Magic, the latter magnificently arranged by Nelson Riddle. Yet by the end of her life she returned to the Prima years and fully embraced them. Chris names her 2005 CD, “Keely Smith: Vegas ’58-Today” (Concord Jazz CCD-2266-2) as one of his very favorite vocal albums by a former big band singer. Keely Smith died on Dec. 16, 2017 at the age of 89.

KAY STARR

Simply put, Kay could sing it all: swing, jazz, blues, country, Wheel of Fortune, Rock and Roll Waltz, Comes a-Long Love, Bonaparte’s Retreat, pops old and new (have you heard her ‘70s big band version of Love Will Keep Us Together?) We both enjoyed it when she resurrected Love with a Capital You and Baby Me for a 1989 PBS-TV tribute to Glenn Miller (with whose band she had recorded them on Bluebird Records 50 years before!). And her vocal of What a Diff’rence a Day Made at a 1990 “Society of Singers” gathering was outstanding! (Plus she looked pretty in that polka-dot dress and headband.) Kay Starr died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease on Nov. 3, 2016 at the age of 94.

JO STAFFORD

Jo had a pure voice and perfect pitch; she showed that over and over on recordings with Tommy Dorsey and others accompanied by her husband, Paul Weston. When Chris interviewed her by telephone once, he asked if she had any special memories of her 1969 Reader’s Digest recordings, in which new pop songs were arranged like vintage big band material and featured trombonist Warren Covington. She replied to the effect that it was... just another job. Ironically, the only Grammy Award she ever received was for “Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris,” a 1961 comedy / parody album, in which she purposely sang off-key and Weston deliberately played the piano poorly. Jo’s last major appearance was in 1990 at a “Society of Singers” gathering where she sang I’ll Never Smile Again backed by the Hi-Los. Jo Stafford died on Jul. 16, 2008 at the age of 90. BUTCH STONE

Butch started with big bands led by Van Alexander and Larry Clinton, but he was most closely-identified with Les Brown’s Band of Renown. No wonder - he was with Brown from 1942 and active into, we think, the 1990s. Brown died in 2001, yet even after that, Butch was, on special occasions, a guest with the Band of Renown directed by Les Jr., doing songs like A Good Man Is Hard to Find. Butch Stone died on May 19, 2009 at the age of 96. MARTHA TILTON

Martha’s two pleasant sides with Artie Shaw in 1940 have been pretty much forgotten, in favor of her work with Benny Goodman’s band from 1937 to 1939. That’s understandable, for there were some memorable performances between the liltin’ Miss Tilton and BG, such as Bob White, Loch Lomond, You and Your Love, and, of course, And the Angels Sing. Further, she did sing with Benny at Carnegie Hall -in 1938 and 1978- after all. Martha also recorded some sides for Capitol in the 1940s, was on the radio in a number of settings, and made some films (including the 1975 made-for-TV movie “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” with Orrin Tucker). Martha Tilton died of natural causes on Dec. 8, 2006 at the age of 91.

LOUISE TOBIN

Louise was a native of Aubrey, Texas. After her divorce from Harry James in 1943, she lived out most of her life in the town of Denton, about 20 or 25 minutes away. She was wed to clarinetist Peanuts Hucko in 1967 and even sang with The Glenn Miller Orchestra when Hucko led it for eight months in 1974. They remained married and performing partners until his death in 2003. Louise is shown above with a cake for her 100th birthday in 2018. Over 50 members of her family and friends were present, including her son Harry James (who lives in Fairview, Texas). Another son, Tim, an attorney in Nacogdoches, TX, had a court case and couldn’t make it. Louise has a tile on the Denton Arts Walk of Fame, and in Apr. 2021 her autobiography, Texas Jazz Singer, was published. Born Nov. 18, 1918, Louise Tobin is still alive at this writing and now age 102. MEL TORME

With his high tenor and smooth singing, Mel was, at one time, called the “The Velvet Fog.” But he went way beyond that! Consider just in the years before that nickname, he made his professional debut at the age of 4 with the Coon-Sanders Orchestra, singing You’re Driving Me Crazy at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago; his first published song, Lament to Love, recorded by Harry James, Les Brown, and Sonny Dunham; his vocals and drumming with the Chico Marx band ‘42-’43; and his singing with The Mel-Tones and Artie Shaw on Musicraft in 1946. Later, he collaborated on The Christmas Song; scatted through countless jazz tunes on-stage; wrote arrangements for Judy Garland; penned several books including a biography of his friend Buddy Rich, and hosted a 1987 PBS-TV tribute to Tommy Dorsey. Mel’s life was filled with music, but a stroke in 1996 ended his singing career. Mel Torme died from another stroke on June 5, 1999 at the age of 73.

SARAH VAUGHAN

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Author Gary Giddins described Sarah as “the ageless voice of modern jazz - of giddy postwar virtuosity, biting wit and fearless caprice.” A pianist, John Malachi, is credited with giving her the nickname “Sassy,” as it matched her personality. She was a band vocalist with Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine around 1943 and 1944, just as bebop was emerging. When she left to go on her own, she gravitated toward what was a hotspot for bop, 52nd Street in New York City. At first she recorded for Musicraft and then Columbia, but in 1954 she began a contract which called for her to sing commercial songs for Mercury and jazz-oriented material for its subsidiary, EmArcy. Surprisingly, she once commented, “I don’t know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back.” Sarah Vaughan died of lung cancer on Apr. 3, 1990 at the age of 66.

BEA WAIN

. Bea made one record, If It’s the Last Thing I Do, with Artie Shaw on Brunswick in 1937 and was Larry Clinton’s band vocalist from 1937 into early 1939. But after she left Clinton, she made few records and instead concentrated on work in radio. She sang on radio programs including the “Monday Merry-Go-Round (NBC, 1941-42), “Your Hit Parade” (NBC), and “Starlight Serenade” (Mutual, 1944). In 1938, Bea had married announcer Andre Baruch (1908-1991), and within a few years, they hosted a program together called “Mr. and Mrs. Music.” Even when she and Andre moved to Palm Beach, Florida in 1973, they had a a top-rated, daily four-hour radio talk show for nine years. After re-locating to Beverly Hills, California, they hosted a syndicated version of “Your Hit Parade.” Bea Wain died of congestive heart failure on Aug. 19, 2017 at the age of 100.

HELEN WARD

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Helen joined Benny Goodman in 1934, recorded with Gene Krupa in 1938, worked with bands led by Hal McIntyre and Harry James in the early ‘40s, and made an album with Larry Clinton for RCA Victor, “Larry Clinton in Hi-Fi” (LPM-1342) in 1956. Other recordings of Helen included the 10” Columbia album “It’s Been So Long” (CL 6271) in 1953 and an LP titled “With a Little Bit of Swing” (LPM-1364) with clarinetist Peanuts Hucko in 1956. She was hired to re-create two of her Goodman vocals, Goody-Goody and It’s Been So Long, for Time-Life’s “Swing Era” series in 1970. She also made an album, “The Helen Ward Songbook Vol 1” for Lyricon Records. In the late ‘70s, she sang at the Rainbow Room in New York City and had a rare TV appearance on the PBS “Over Easy” show hosted by Hugh Downs. In between all of that, she was married four times; her husbands included record company executive Albert Marx (1912-1991) and audio engineer William Savory (1916-2004). Helen Ward died on Apr. 21, 1998 at the age of 84.

FRAN WARREN

Born Frances Wolff, she worked with Art Mooney, Billy Eckstine (he gave her the name “Fran Warren”), Charlie Barnet, and Claude Thornhill. When she went out on her own in 1948, RCA Victor gave her a big publicity push, but later she bounced around various labels including MGM, Tops, Warwick, and Audio Fidelity. We saw her in-person once at the Front Row Theatre in Cleveland, Ohio, as part of a touring package with Harry James and his Orchestra and The Mills Brothers. And when she did A Sunday Kind of Love at a 1990 “Society of Singers” gathering, it was as if time had stood still; she looked nice and sang it as well as ever! Fran Warren died on Mar. 4, 2013 at the age of 87.

JOE WILLIAMS

Joe said the fellows in the Count Basie band, with whom he was associated from 1954 to 1961, used to call him “the boy singer,” and, in fact, he may have been the last of the big band singers to become famous. His vocals of Every Day (I Have the Blues) and Alright, Okay, You Win were exuberant and infectious. No wonder he would re-join the Basie Orchestra as a special added attraction a number of times from the 1970s to the 1990s. Williams made recordings, worked in hotels and nightclubs, sang at jazz festivals and on television, and even played the character “Grandpa Al” on NBC’s “The Cosby Show.” In 1998, he wrote, “Jazz will survive even if schools cut funding for our music. This music has survived slavery and no money at all. You can’t squelch the human spirit.” Hospitalized for a respiratory ailment in Las Vegas, he was anxious to be home and decided to leave the facility and try to walk the three miles to his house. Just a few blocks from his residence, the heat got to him and he was found dead. Joe Williams passed away from natural causes on Mar. 29, 1999 at the age of 80.

SOURCE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “Band Career Has Its Darker Side,” Canton [ OH ] Repository, Sept. 11, 1949. Diane Bell. “Column: A fond farewell to jazz and big band singer Betty Bennett Lowe,” San Diego Union–Tribune, Apr. 13, 2020. Gary Brown. “The Monday after: Claire Hogan sang with the big bands,” Canton [ OH ] Repository, Jan. 10, 2012. “Bob Eberly, Singer Is Dead; Star With Dorsey Big Bands,” New York Times, Nov. 18, 1981, sec. A, p.28. Nate Chinen. “Anita O’Day, 87, Hard-Living Star of the Big-Band Era and Beyond, Dies,” New York Times, Nov. 24, 2006. “Dolores Parker Morgan 1919 - 2018,” Cleveland [ OH ] Plain Dealer, Dec. 18, 2018. Burt A. Folkart. “Paula Kelly, Sang With Modernaires, Glenn Miller,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 4, 1992. - - - . “Helen O’Connell, Popular Vocalist in big Band Style,” Los Angeles Times, Sept. 10, 1993. James Gavin. Stormy Weather: The Life Of Lena Horne (New York City: Atria Books, 2009). “Ginny Simms, 81, Singer and Actress,” New York Times, Apr. 6, 1994. Genevieve Glatsky. “Harry Prime, big band vocalist, 97,” Philadelphia [ PA ] Inquirer, June 20, 2017. Ari L. Goldman. “Kenny Gardner, 89, Guy Lombardo’s Crooner, “ New York Times, Jul. 31, 2002. Denise Grady. “Kitty Kallen, Singer of Standards,” Dies at 94,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 2016, sec. B, p.7.

John Hansen. “Entertainment: Romancing a career,” Brainerd [ MN ] Dispatch, Jan. 4, 2007. “Hard-Living singer Anita O’Day, 87, the ‘Jezebel of Jazz,’” Orange County [ CA ] Register, Nov. 24, 2006. Stephen Holden. “Johnny Desmond Dies At 65; Singer On TV And Broadway,” New York Times, Sept. 9, 1985. - - - . “June Christy, Singer, 64, Is Dead; Gained Fame With Kenton’s Band,” New York Times, June 24, 1990. - - - . “Ella Fitzgerald, the Voice of Jazz, Dies at 79,” New York Times, June 16, 1996. - - - . “Chris Connor, Jazz Singer Whose Voice Embodied a Wistful Cool, Dies at 81,” New York Times, Sept. 1, 2009. “Jack Leonard, Singer, 73,” New York Times, June 22, 1988, sec. D, p.31. Richard Lamparski. “Marion Hutton,” in Whatever became of …?: Eighth Series (New York City: Crown, 1982), pp.140-141. David Lobosco. “A Trip Down Memory Lane: Singer Spotlight: Ginny Simms,” greatentertainersarchives.blogspots.com, Mar. 5, 2013. “Kenny Gardner: Tenor with Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians,” Variety, Aug. 5, 2002. Robert Macy. “Joe Williams, jazz legend sang with Basie, Hampton in half-century career,” Las Vegas Sun, Mar. 31, 1999. Douglas Martin. “Connie Haines, Peppy Singer, Dies at 87,” New York Times, Sept. 25, 2008. Dennis McClellan. “Harry Babbitt, 90; Baritone Was Lead Vocalist for Kay Kyser’s Band,” Los Angeles Times, Apr. 22, 2004. “Moon-Maids: Keeping The Big Band Sound Alive,” D Magazine, Jul. 1984.

Notes On People,” New York Times, Oct. 7, 1977. “Obituaries: Jack Leonard, 73; Big Band Singer,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1988. Popa Family Collection. Marc Ramirez. “At 91, Denton-raised big band vocalist is low-key about the high life of her youth,” Dallas [ TX ] Morning News, Jul. 28, 2019. “Ray Eberle, 60, Big Band Singer,” New York Times, Aug. 28, 1979, sec. D, p.15. Howard Reich. “Singer-pianist Audrey Morris dies at 89, was an icon of Chicago cabaret and jazz,” Chicago Tribune, Apr. 1, 2018. Daniel Rubin. “At 90, big-band singer Harry Prime gets another encore,” Philly.com, Dec. 17, 2010. Keith Shelton. “Family, close friends celebrate Denton County songstress’ 100th birthday,” Denton [ TX ] Record-Chronicle, Oct. 14, 2018. Vaughn Monroe Society (vaughnmonroesociety.org). Richard L. Williams. “He Wouldn’t Cross the Line,” Life, Vol.31 No.10 / Sept. 3, 1951, pp.81-94.

IMAGE ATTRIBUTION The Associated Press Victoria Arocho The Bay Area Radio Museum (bayarearadio.org) Kevin John Berry Graham Bezant Carnegie Museum of Art Dallas [ TX ] Morning News Jan Eberle Alan Eichler “Gallery: Remembering Rosemary Clooney,” cincinnati.com John J. Kim King Kong Photo Vincent Lopez, Jr. Popa Family Collection Alicia Previn and Claudia Previn Stasny Fred Prouser Marc Ramirez Paul Roth Michael Swirtz Toronto [ Canada ] Star