The King Sisters were an American big band-era vocal group consisting of six sisters: Alyce, Donna, Louise, Marilyn, Maxine, and Yvonne King.
Born and raised in Pleasant Grove, Utah, the King Sisters were part of the Driggs Family of Entertainers. Their father was William King Driggs.
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 Louise, Maxine, and Alyce formed a vocal trio along the lines of their idols, the Boswell Sisters, 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. Gradually, relations between the King Sisters and Heidt deteriorated to the point where they left the band. In the following years, they separately and together sang with the bands of Artie Shaw's Old Gold program and Charlie Barnet and Al Pearce series. They turned down a request to be the vocal group for the Glenn Miller Orchestra. They recorded for Bluebird Records, a sub-label of RCA Victor and the same label as Miller, and also had their first hit with a vocal version of Miller's hit, "In the Mood".
In 1937, Luise married guitarist Alvino Rey. At the peak of the sisters' success, they appeared in a number of 1940s Hollywood films. During World War II, they appeared regularly on Kay Kyser's radio series. In late 1953, Alyce, Marilyn, and Yvonne joined Gene Autry's Melody Ranch on CBS Radio as the Gene Autry Blue Jeans, replacing the Pinafores (Eunice, Beulah, and Ione Kettle), and continued there along with Avino 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 and Lex de Azevedo, and Cam Clarke, as well as other talent. The show ran from 1965–1966, with a 1969 revival.
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Listen to The King Sisters on Swing City Radio. We are a Big Band Radio Station playing a wide selection of Big Band and Swing music.
Swing City Radio plays The King Sisters - Listen to our station and hear the songs:
Tis Autumn
Candy
The Hut-Sut Song
