The King Sisters were an American

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

-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.

History

Born and raised in

Pleasant Grove, Utah Pleasant Grove, originally named Battle Creek, is a city in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, Utah, United States, known as "Utah's City of Trees". It is part of the Provo, Utah, Provo–Orem, Utah, Orem Provo-Orem metropolitan area, Metropoli ...

, the King sisters were part of the Driggs family of entertainers. They were members of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

. Their father was William King Driggs.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 152. 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 The Boswell Sisters were an American close harmony singing trio of the jazz and swing eras, consisting of three sisters: Martha Boswell (June 9, 1905 – July 2, 1958), Connie Boswell (later spelled "Connee", December 3, 1907 – October 11 ...

, 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. 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. In the following years, the sisters sang separately and together with the bands of

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

's Old Gold program and

Charlie Barnet Charles Daly Barnet (October 26, 1913 – September 4, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His major recordings were "Nagasaki", "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "South ...

and Al Pearce series. They turned down a request to be the vocal group for the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They recorded for

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...

, a sub-label of

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

and the same label as Miller, and also had their first hit with a vocal version of Miller's hit "

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by Americans, American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition "Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was re ...

". In 1937, Luise married Horace Heidt's guitarist,

Alvino Rey Alvin McBurney (July 1, 1908 – February 24, 2004), known by his stage name Alvino Rey, was an American jazz guitarist and bandleader. Career Alvin McBurney was born in Oakland, California, United States, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Early i ...

. 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 A soundie is a three-minute American film displaying both the audio and video of a musical performance. Over 1,850 soundies were produced between 1940 and 1946, regarded today as "precursors to music videos". Soundies exhibited a variety of mu ...

musicals filmed for coin-operated film jukeboxes. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, they appeared regularly on

Kay Kyser James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s. Early years Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Emily Royster Kyser ...

's radio series. In late 1953, Alyce, Yvonne, and Marilyn joined ''

Gene Autry's Melody Ranch ''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.French, ...

'' 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 Alexis King de Azevedo (born January 14, 1943) is an American composer, songwriter, and pianist known primarily for his film scores and his work on ''The Swan Princess (soundtrack), The Swan Princess'' of which one of his songs was nominated for ...

, and

Cam Clarke Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games, and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...

, as well as other talent. The show ran from 1965 to 1966, with a 1969 revival. 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 Arcade Fire is a Canadian indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, consisting of husband and wife Win Butler and Régine Chassagne, alongside Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, and Jeremy Gara. The band's touring line-up includes former core ...

Deaths

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 Plano ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "flat surface" /'plano/) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, where it is the largest city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County. A small portion of Plano is located in Denton County, Texas, Denton Count ...

. Maxine King Thomas died on May 13, 2009, aged 97 in

Corona, California Corona (Spanish language, Spanish for "Crown") is a city in northwestern Riverside County, California, United States, directly bordering Orange County, California, Orange and San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino counties. Its curre ...

. Yvonne "Vonnie" King Burch died on December 13, 2009, aged 89, after suffering a fall at her home in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

. Marilyn King died on August 7, 2013, aged 82, from cancer, also in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

; she was the last surviving sister.

Discography

Hit singles

Albums

*''Aloha'' (

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, 1957) *''Imagination'' (Capitol Records, 1958) *''Warm and Wonderful'' (Capitol Records, 1959) *''Baby, They're Singing Our Song'' (Capitol Records, 1960) *''Love At Home With Members Of The Famous King Family'' mainly compilation of 1950s and 1960s Capitol recordings (Capitol Records, 1965) *''TV's Wonderful King Sisters'' (Capitol Records, 1965) *''The New Sounds of the Fabulous King Sisters'' (

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

, 1966)

Compilations of 1930s, 1940s recordings

*''The Uncollected The King Sisters With Frank DeVol's Orchestra 1947'' With Frank DeVol's Orchestra ( Hindsight Records, 1994) *''Spotlight On... The King Sisters'' (Capitol Records, 1995) *''The King Sisters, Vol. 4 1939 - 1941'' (Ajazz Records, n.d.) *''The King Sisters, Vol. 5 1941'' (Ajazz Records, n.d.) *''The King Sisters, Volume 6 1942'' (Ajazz Records, n.d.) *''It's Love, Love, Love'' (Living Era, 2005) *''Imagination: The Blend and The Elegance'' (Jasmine, UK, 2012)

Side-work

Horace Heidt and His Brigadiers *''Introducing The King Sisters – Introducing The King Sisters 1937-1938'' (Collectibles, 2006)

*''Uncollected 1940-1941'' (Hindsight Records, 1983)

As part of the King Family

See latter 1960s recordings supporting ''The King Family Show''

References

External links

*
The King Sisters fan page, started in 2001
{{DEFAULTSORT:King Sisters, The American girl groups Bluebird Records artists Capitol Records artists Family musical groups King family (show business) Latter Day Saints from Utah Musical groups established in 1935 Musical groups from Utah People from Pleasant Grove, Utah RCA Victor artists Sibling musical groups Swing music Vocal quartets Vocal trios Warner Records artists