Kay Starr

Kay Starr (born Catherine Laverne Starks; July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s. She was of Iroquois and Irish heritage. Starr performed multiple genres, such as pop, jazz, and country, but her roots were in jazz. Her 1952 song "Wheel of Fortune" was a smash hit, and later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Additionally, she had big hits with "Allez-Vous-En" (from the Broadway show CAN-CAN) and "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1953 and 1954, respectively.

Early life Catherine Laverne Starks was born in Dougherty, Oklahoma, to Annie and Harry Starks. Her mother's ancestors were Irish-American, while her father was a Native American Iroquois. She later claimed to be both Cherokee and Choctaw descent. Catherine began singing during early childhood, often performing to the chickens that her mother was raising.

Starr's singing attracted the attention of Bob Crosby's manager and had her join Crosby on the road.

Starr and her mother then returned to Memphis, where she completed high school in 1940.

Starr then signed with Wingy Manone's band. From 1943 to 1945 she sang with Charlie Barnet's ensemble, retiring for a year after contracting pneumonia and later developing nodes on her vocal cords as a result of fatigue and overwork. In 1946 Starr became a soloist and a year later signed a contract with Capitol Records. The label had a number of female singers signed up, including Peggy Lee, Ella Mae Morse, Jo Stafford, and Margaret Whiting, so it was hard to find her a niche of her own. In 1948 when the American Federation of Musicians was threatening a strike, Capitol wanted to have each of its singers record a back list for future release. Being junior to all these other artists meant that every song Starr wanted to sing was taken by her rivals on the label, leaving her a list of old songs which nobody else wanted to record.

In 1950, she returned home to Dougherty and heard a fiddle recording of "Bonaparte's Retreat" by Pee Wee King. She liked it so much that she wanted to record it. She contacted Roy Acuff's publishing house in Nashville and spoke to Acuff directly. He was happy to let her record it, but it took a while for her to make clear that she was a singer, not a fiddler, and therefore needed to have some lyrics written. Acuff came up with a new lyric, and "Bonaparte's Retreat" became her biggest hit up to that point, with close to a million sales.

In 1955, she signed with RCA Victor Records. However, at this time, rock-and-roll was displacing the existing forms of pop music and Kay had only two hits, the aforementioned, which is sometimes considered her attempt to sing rock and roll, and sometimes as a song poking fun at it, "The Rock and Roll Waltz". She stayed at RCA Victor until 1959, hitting the top ten with "My Heart Reminds Me", then returned to Capitol.

Most of Starr's songs had jazz influences. Like those of Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, they were sung in a style that anticipated rock and roll songs. These included her hits "Wheel of Fortune" (her biggest hit, No. 1 for 10 weeks), "Side by Side", "The Man Upstairs", and "Rock and Roll Waltz". One of her biggest hits was her version of "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man with the Bag", a Christmas song that became a holiday favorite.

After rock-and-roll swept established performers from the charts, Starr appeared in the television series Club Oasis, mostly associated with the bandleader Spike Jones. She recorded several albums, including Movin''' (1959), Losers, Weepers... (1960), I Cry By Night (1962), and Just Plain Country (1962).

After leaving Capitol for a second time in 1966, Starr continued touring in the US and the UK. She recorded several jazz and country albums on small independent labels, including How About This, a 1968 album with Count Basie.

In the late 1980s, she performed in the revue 3 Girls with Helen O'Connell and Margaret Whiting, and in 1993 she toured the United Kingdom as part of Pat Boone's April Love Tour. Her first live album, Live at Freddy's, was released in 1997. She sang with Tony Bennett on his album Playin' with My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues (2001).

Death Starr died on November 3, 2016, in Los Angeles at the age of 94, from complications of Alzheimer's disease. Starr was married six times, including, briefly in 1953, to bandleader/composer Vic Schoen. Starr was survived by a daughter.

Discography

Studio albums The Kay Starr Style (1955) In a Blue Mood (1956) The One, The Only Kay Starr (1956) Blue Starr (1957) Rockin' with Kay (1957) I Hear the Word (1959) Movin'! (1959) Losers, Weepers (1960) Movin' on Broadway! (1960) Kay Starr: Jazz Singer (1960) Just Plain Country (1962) I Cry by Night (1962) Tears and Heartaches/Old Records (1966) When the Lights Go on Again (1968) How About This (1969) Kay Starr Country (1974) Back to the Roots (1975) Kay Starr'' (1981)