[Dixielandjazz] Re: Who Is The Vocalist?

[Bill Haesler]

Dear Jim,
The vocalist on Jack Teagrden's recording  of the tune "Heaven Is Mine
Again?" is Kitty Kallen. It was one of 8 tunes the JT orch cut for Standard
Transcriptions in Chicago on 10 Dec 1941.
It was her only song on that date.
So who was she?
The following is from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia.

  Kitty Kallen (born on May 25, 1922) was an American popular singer, who
sang with a number of big bands in the 1940s, coming back in the 1950s to
score her biggest hit, 1954's "Little Things Mean A Lot".
  Born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family, she won an amateur contest as a
child doing imitations of some singers of the day. When she brought her
prize (a camera) home, her father refused to believe her and thought she had
stolen the camera, so he punished her severely. Later, when neighborhood
people came to congratulate her father, he realized that her story was true.
Subsequently she sang (while still a child) on The Children's Hour, a radio
program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, a firm which had a chain of cafeterias
in New York and Philadelphia. As a pre-teen she had her own program on
Philadelphia's WCAU, and soon she sang as a vocalist with the big bands of
Jan Savitt in 1936, Artie Shaw in 1938, and Jack Teagarden in 1940. (While
with the Savitt band, she briefly was a roommate of Dinah Shore.) She
married Clint Garvin, who played clarinet in Teagarden's band, and when
Teagarden fired Garvin, she left as well. The marriage was annulled. Kitty
later married Budd Granoff, famous publicist, agent, and TV producer. They
were married over forty-five years, until Budd's death. After a short stay
with Bobby Sherwood, she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing Helen
O'Connell. Though only a teen-ager at the time, she was the vocalist for one
of Dorsey's big hits, "Besame Mucho." Most of her singing assignments were
in duets with Bob Eberly, and when Eberly left to go into the service toward
the end of 1943, she joined Harry James' band.
  She became a popular artist on radio, film, and night clubs, but lost her
voice at the height of her career. She eventually made a comeback, with the
1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot" (voted the most popular record) and
Kitty was voted most popular female singer in Billboard and Variety polls.
  During Kitty's height of popularity, there were three imposters who billed
themselves as Kitty Kallen. When one of them (Genevieve Angostinello) died,
it was reported that Kitty Kallen had died. That is where the misinformation
about Kitty's birth name was born. As of 2005 Kitty Kallen is still alive,
and still "Pretty Kitty Kallen".
  Hit recordings

*    "The Aba Daba Honeymoon" (1951) (with Richard Hayes) (better known
version done by Debbie Reynolds)
*    "Are You Looking For A Sweetheart?" (1953)
*    "Besame Mucho" (1944) (with Bob Eberly and the Jimmy Dorsey band)
*    "Go On With The Wedding" (1955) (with Georgie Shaw) (better known
version done by Patti Page)
*    "If I Give My Heart To You" (1959) (better known versions done in 1954
by Denise Lor and Doris Day)
*    "I'm Beginning To See The Light" (1945) (with the Harry James band)
*    "In The Chapel In The Moonlight" (1954)
*    "It's Been A Long Long Time" (1945) (with the Harry James band)
*    "I Want You All To Myself" (1954)
*    "Juke Box Annie" (1950) (with Harry Geller's orchestra)
*    "Kiss Me Sweet" (1949) (with Mitch Miller)
*    "Little Things Mean A Lot" (1954) (her biggest hit)
*    "My Coloring Book" (1963) (her last hit)
*    "Our Lady Of Fatima" (1950) (with Richard Hayes and Jimmy Carroll's
orchestra)
*    "They're Either Too Young Or Too Old" (1944) (with the Jimmy Dorsey
band)

As usual, much more than you needed to know!
Kind regards,
Bill.