Kay starr singer biography
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Kay Starr
American minstrel (–)
Kay Starr | |
|---|---|
Publicity photo, c.&#;s | |
| Birth name | Catherine Laverne Starks |
| Born | ()July 21, Dougherty, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | November 3, () (aged&#;94) Los Angeles, Calif., U.S. |
| Genres | Traditional go off visit, jazz, declare, western swing |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Labels | Capitol, RCA Frontrunner, Happy Cat, His Master's Voice |
Musical artist
Kay Starr (born Catherine Laverne Starks; July 21, – November 3, )[1][2] was an Denizen singer who enjoyed lifethreatening success embankment the unpunctual s extremity s. She was mock Iroquois beam Irish inheritance. Starr performed multiple genres, such in the same way pop, blues, and territory, but have a lot to do with roots were in blues.
Early life
[edit]Catherine Laverne Starks was whelped in Dougherty, Oklahoma[2][3] border on Annie good turn Harry Starks.[4] Her mother's ancestors were Irish-American determine her pa was a Native Denizen Iroquois. She would afterwards claim drop in be both Cherokee gain Choctaw descent.[2] At description age admit three, rendering Starks moved blame on Dallas, Texas, where convoy father obtained a livelihood installing structure sprinklers. Kill mother not easy chickens give your backing to support depiction family bring in well.[5] Empress began melodic during apparent childhood, habitually performing persevere with the chickens that
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“I like the songs that have to do with life. It has always been my theory that a singer, male or female, is no more than an actor or actress set to music. They are only as good as the stories they tell.”
Kay Starr
Biography
Native Oklahoman Katherine “Kay” Laverne Starks moved with her family to towns in Texas and Tennessee and began her singing career at the age of eight. She was only thirteen when she began singing for a daily radio show in Tennessee. She worked there several summers before performing with Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys at the Grand Ole Opry and singing with Bob Crosby and Frank Sinatra. She recorded an album with Glenn Miller’s orchestra when she was only fifteen and performed at military bases with Charlie Barnett’s band throughout World War II. She received her first Gold Record with the hit “Wheel of Fortune” in the ’s and later, sang such hits as “The Lonesomest Gal in Town,” “Angry,” “Rock and Roll Waltz,” “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” and “Side by Side.” She was a regular guest on the “Danny Thomas Show”, toured with Annie Get Your Gun, and starred in the movie, The Lord Don’t Play Favorites with Robert Stack and Buster Keaton. She and Frank Sinatra were awarded the “Hit Parader’s #1 Male and Female Entertainers” and she became Oklahoma’s A
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Kay Starr obituary
In the pre-rock’n’roll era, popular vocalists often flirted with jazz. Many grew up surrounded by the music of the big bands and felt at home with jazz phrasing. Some, like Kay Starr, who has died aged 94, performed and recorded with jazz musicians before finding wider success with pop songs and novelties.
Starr’s early recordings have the kind of bluesy warmth and distinctive swing sense that suggest she might have emulated the likes of Peggy Lee or Ella Fitzgerald had she chosen to stay closer to jazz. One trade paper of the time called her a “deep-voiced brunette thrush”. Instead, she became a jukebox favourite, first with Bonaparte’s Retreat in and then with Wheel of Fortune two years later, a major hit that became her “signature” song.
Katherine Starks was born in the small town of Dougherty, Oklahoma, of Native American stock: her father, Harry, was an Iroquois and her mother, Annie, part Choctaw, Cherokee and Irish. The family moved to Dallas when Starr was three, where her father found work installing sprinklers in buildings while her mother raised chickens. An aunt noticed the nine-year-old’s pleasure in singing around the house and encouraged her to enter a talent contest at the local radio station. Starr won a prize for singing and oper