Jinny Osborn

Jinny Osborn (born Virginia Cole; April 25, 1927 – May 19, 2003) Her father was president of the Barbershop Harmony Society, He was also the president of the Kingsbury Breweries Company.

Osborn attended Shimer College, which at the time was a four-year junior college, for the 11th and 12th grades, graduating in 1945. Shimer was well known for its music program, and Osborn majored in music in addition to playing violin in a student group that performed in nearby towns.

Musical career

Osborn and three friends (Janet Ertel, Alice Mae Buschmann Spielvogel, and Dorothy Schwartz) formed the Chordettes in 1946, with Osborn singing tenor. Alice Spielvogel was replaced by Carol Buschmann, her sister-in-law, in 1947. In 1952, Lynn Evans (née Hargate; May 2, 1924 – February 6, 2020) replaced Schwartz. And in 1953, Margie Needham replaced Osborn (who was having a baby), though Osborn later returned to the group. Nancy Overton was also a member of the group at a later time.

Initially they did principally folk music in the barbershop quartet style, though they gradually adopted more conventional pop forms. She was temporarily replaced by Margie Needham.

Osborn did however appear on several of the group's subsequent major hits, including "Born to be With You" (1956), "Just Between You and Me" (1957) and "Lollipop" (1958).