The King Sisters | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Genres | |
Labels | |
Past members | Alyce King Donna King Luise King Marilyn King Maxine King Yvonne King |
Website | www |
The King Sisters were an American big band-era vocal group, appearing as a trio or quartet. Six sisters were in the group at one time or another: Alyce, Donna, Luise, Marilyn, Maxine, and Yvonne King.
Born and raised in Pleasant Grove, Utah, the King sisters were part of the Driggs family of entertainers. They were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their father was William King Driggs. [1]
Their first professional job was with a Salt Lake City radio station, from which they graduated to a station in Oakland, California. In the early 1930s sisters Luise, Maxine, and Alyce formed a vocal trio along the lines of their idols, the Boswell Sisters, and traveled to San Francisco to audition for radio station KGO (to replace the Boswell Sisters themselves, who were leaving the station). After this, Maxine retired to home life in Oakland and sisters Donna and Yvonne were added to the roster. [2]
In 1935, the King Sisters accepted a job with bandleader Horace Heidt. Their employment was on-again, off-again, with the sisters leaving the band in November 1935 to return to their home state, only to be rehired by Heidt the next year. [3] In the following years, the sisters sang separately and together with the bands of Artie Shaw's Old Gold program and Charlie Barnet and Al Pearce series. They turned down a request to be the vocal group for the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They recorded for Bluebird Records, a sub-label of RCA Victor and the same label as Miller, and also had their first hit with a vocal version of Miller's hit, "In the Mood".
In 1937, Luise married Horace Heidt's guitarist, Alvino Rey. Rey left the Heidt orchestra to form his own band, and the King Sisters became Rey's resident vocalists.
Most vintage-movie fans know the group as The Four King Sisters: Yvonne, Luise, Alyce, and Donna. The foursome made their first appearance in the 1939 musical Second Fiddle (1939) and went on to be featured in a number of 1940s Hollywood films, both feature-length and short-subject musicals, as well as three-minute Soundies musicals filmed for coin-operated film jukeboxes. During World War II, they appeared regularly on Kay Kyser's radio series.
In late 1953, Alyce, Yvonne, and Marilyn joined Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on CBS Radio as the Gene Autry Blue Jeans, replacing the Pinafores (Eunice, Beulah, and Ione Kettle), and continued there along with Alvino Rey until the program's end in early May 1956.
In 1965, the King Sisters began hosting their own ABC TV series, The King Family Show , which featured family members including Alyce's husband, actor Robert Clarke, and her sons Ric de Azevedo, pianist-arranger Lex de Azevedo, and Cam Clarke, as well as other talent. The show ran from 1965 to 1966, with a 1969 revival. [4]
A second generation of the King Family, the Four King Cousins, carries on the musical tradition. More prominently, Luise's grandsons Win and William Butler are also musicians as part of the rock band Arcade Fire.
Alyce King Clarke died on August 23, 1996, from respiratory problems, aged 81. Luise King Rey died on August 4, 1997, aged 83, from cancer, in the year of her 60th wedding anniversary to Alvino Rey. Donna King Conkling died on June 16, 2007, aged 88, in Plano, Texas. Maxine King Thomas died on May 13, 2009, aged 97 in Corona, California. [5] Yvonne "Vonnie" King Burch died on December 13, 2009, aged 89, after suffering a fall at her home in Santa Barbara, California. [6] Marilyn King died on August 7, 2013, aged 82, from cancer, also in California; she was the last surviving sister. [7]
Year | Single | Chart positions | |
---|---|---|---|
US [8] | US Country [9] | ||
1937 | "Hot Lips" | 5 | — |
"Oh Marie-Oh, Marie" | 12 | — | |
"It's the Natural Thing to Do" | 5 | — | |
"Little Heaven of the Seven Seas" | 3 | — | |
1941 | "Tiger Rag" | 23 | — |
"Nighty Night" | 13 | — | |
"The Hut-Sut Song (A Swedish Serenade)" | 7 | — | |
"Bless 'Em All" | 25 | — | |
1942 | "I Said No!" | 2 | — |
"Rose O'Day" | 18 | — | |
"Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing in a Hurry" | 21 | — | |
"Idaho" | 3 | — | |
"My Devotion" | 11 | — | |
"When It's Moonlight on the Blue Pacific" | 22 | — | |
"Strip Polka" | 6 | — | |
1943 | "Gobs of Love" | 20 | — |
"The Army Air Corps" | 19 | — | |
1944 | "I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You)" | 12 | — |
"It's Love-Love-Love" | 4 | — | |
"Mairzy Doats" | 21 | — | |
"Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet" | 13 | — | |
"The Trolley Song" | 13 | — | |
1945 | "Candy" | 15 | — |
"Saturday Night (Is the Loneliest Night of the Week)" | 15 | — | |
1946 | "Divorce Me C.O.D." (featuring Buddy Cole's orchestra) | — | 5 |
Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers
See latter 1960s recordings supporting The King Family Show
The Pied Pipers were an American popular singing group originally formed in the late 1930s. They had several chart hits throughout the 1940s, both under their own name and in association with Tommy Dorsey, with Johnny Mercer and with Frank Sinatra.
Edwin LeMar "Buddy" Cole was a jazz pianist, organist, orchestra leader, and composer. He played behind a number of pop singers, including Rosemary Clooney and Bing Crosby.
Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and his Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television during the 1930s and 1940s.
Matthew Loveland Dennis was an American singer, pianist, band leader, arranger, and writer of music for popular songs.
Frank Denny De Vol was an American bandleader, arranger, composer and actor. As a composer, he was nominated for four Academy Awards.
Alfred Shaddick Burt was an American jazz musician who is best known for composing the music for fifteen Christmas carols between 1942 and 1954. Only one of the carols was performed in public outside his immediate family circle during his lifetime.
"Deep in the Heart of Texas" is an American popular song about Texas.
George Cates was an American music arranger, conductor, songwriter and record executive known for his work with Lawrence Welk and his orchestra.
Buddy Feyne was an American lyricist during the swing era. He wrote the lyrics for "Tuxedo Junction", which went to No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1940 when Glenn Miller recorded it, "Jersey Bounce", which was No. 15 on the Cash Box Hit Parade of 1942., and "Jumpin' with Symphony Sid".
"Gone with the Wind" is a popular song that's become a jazz standard. The music was written by Allie Wrubel, the lyrics by Herb Magidson and was published in 1937. A version recorded by Horace Heidt and his Brigadiers was a No. 1 song in 1937.
"This Can't Be Love" is a show tune and a popular song from the 1938 Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse when it was sung by Eddie Albert and Marcy Westcott. The lyrics poke fun at the common depiction of love in popular songs as a host of malignant symptoms, saying, "This can't be love because I feel so well."
Alvin McBurney, known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. He is also known for being the grandfather of Win Butler and Will Butler and grandfather-in-law of Regine Chassagne, Win Butler's wife.
Nick Fatool was an American jazz drummer.
Arthur Relsmond "Skeets" Herfurt was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist.
Pot o' Gold is a 1941 American romantic musical comedy film starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard, directed by George Marshall, and based on the radio series Pot o' Gold. The film was released April 3, 1941, eight months before the NBC radio series came to an end. Paulette Goddard's singing voice was dubbed by Vera Van. The film was known as The Golden Hour in the United Kingdom.
The King Family Show is an American musical variety series that featured The King Sisters and their extended musical family. The series first aired on ABC from January 23, 1965, to January 8, 1966. The series was revived in 1969, airing from March to September of that year.
Johnny Standley was an American musician, actor, and comedian.
Gloria Wood was an American singer and voice actress. Her rare voice was in the four-octave range. She was able to imitate other voices.
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch is a Western variety radio show in the United States. A 15-minute pilot show aired on December 31, 1939. The program ran from January 7, 1940 to August 1, 1943, and from September 23, 1945 to May 16, 1956. The show's entire run was broadcast over the CBS radio network, sponsored by Doublemint gum. The approximately two-year interruption resulted from Autry's enlistment in the United States Army to serve in World War II. Initially titled Doublemint's Melody Ranch, the show's name was changed to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch in early 1941. Episodes were 30 minutes long except for a 15-minute version that ran from September 23, 1945 to June 16, 1946. The theme song was "Back in the Saddle Again".
Leland James Gillette, known professionally as Lee Gillette, was an American A&R director, record producer and musician.