Connie Haines

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Connie Haines (* as Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais January 20, 1921 in Savannah, Georgia ; † September 22, 2008 in Clearwater Beach , Florida ) was an American singer who became known as a big band singer.

Live and act

Haines grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, performed as a child at the age of four, won a dance competition, performed as a dancer and singer in Rotary and Kiwani clubs, and was on the radio regularly as Baby Yvonne Marie, Little Princess of the age of nine the Air . She was supported by her mother (who was 110 years old and her daughter survived a few weeks), a dance and music teacher. In the times of the Great Depression she was soon able to finance her whole family with her income and was not stopped by a life-threatening illness of rheumatic fever, as a result of which she could no longer dance but had to sing while sitting at the piano. In 1935 she won the Fred Allen Show 's amateur radio competition, after which she was allowed to perform for two weeks at the Roxy Theater in New York. She also won Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour (by Edward Bowes ) in radio talent competition , as did Frank Sinatra early in his career, and sang in Miami in Charlie Barnet's Big Band and Howard Lally's . Back in New York, she got a contract from MCA and was hired as a singer by Harry James in 1939, to which she changed her name (which then rhymed with James). From 1940 she sang in the Big Band of Tommy Dorsey , in which she sang in a duet with Frank Sinatra. 1942-1946 she sang for the Abbott and Costello radio show, but also in many other popular radio shows of the time as that of Kay Kyser , Hoagy Carmichael , Skitch Henderson , Frank Sinatra, Mickey Rooney , Bing Crosby , Helen Forrest , Jackie Gleason and Bob Hope .

It was very popular in the 1940s and thereafter, releasing over 200 records, 25 of which sold over 50,000 copies. Her hits included Will You Still Be Mine? , Let's Get Away from It All , Snootie Little Cutie , Oh, Look At Me Now (in a duet with Sinatra), Friendship , Stormy Weather , My Man , Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy , Let´s Choo Choo Choo to Idaho . She continued her career as a singer in nightclubs and cabarets until 2006 and sang in front of several US presidents ( Dwight D. Eisenhower , John F. Kennedy , Lyndon Johnson , Ronald Reagan , George HW Bush ). In 1995 she sang in the TV tribute for Sinatra's 80th birthday.

She also appeared in a number of films starting with entertainment films during the Second World War. She mostly sang in her films, including in Duchess of Idaho with Esther Williams from 1950. She had a TV show with Frankie Laine .

She was very religious and sang in a gospel quartet with Beryl Davis and actresses Jane Russell and Rhonda Fleming in the 1950s . She was also the first white singer to record for Motown Records (titled by Smokey Robinson ).

She was married twice. From her first marriage from 1945 to ex-Air Force pilot Robert De Haven, she had a son and a daughter. 1966 to 1972 she was married to the band leader Del Courtney (1910-2006).

Discographic notes

  • Sings a Tribute to Helen Morgan (1957)
  • Singin 'and Swingin' (Collector's Choice, 2001)
  • Nightingale From Savannah (Sepia Recordings, 2008)
  • The Heart and Soul of Connie (Audiophile, 2008)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Haines, Connie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES JaMais, Yvonne Marie Antoinette (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American big band singer
DATE OF BIRTH January 20, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Savannah , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH September 22, 2008
Place of death Clearwater Beach , Florida