She had only local fame before joining Tucker's orchestra – wider notability did not occur until she performed at the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago in 1939, when she began to flourish in the South and Pacific Coast.

Her girlish voice, described as "like a tiny silver bell, soft but tonally true", was used on a version of the 1917 song "Oh Johnny, Oh!

[1] She left the Tucker orchestra in 1942, and legally adopted her stage name, Bonnie Baker, on October 9, 1943, in Circuit Court, Chicago, Illinois.

[8] She then continued with a solo career, singing with the USO (United Service Organizations) during World War II, and appearing regularly on the radio show Your Hit Parade.

In 1948, she recorded a novelty song, "That's All Folks!," as a duet with Mel Blanc playing the character Porky Pig.