Kay Starr (born Catherine Laverne Starks; July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016)[1][2] was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s.

[2] At the age of three, the Starks family moved to Dallas, Texas, where her father obtained a job installing building sprinklers.

[3] She sang frequently around the house which caught the attention of her aunt,[5] with whose help she took part in a local talent contest and won at the age of seven.

[3][2] Young Catherine continued to enter talent contests, and eventually landed a spot performing on Dallas's WRR radio station.

She was discovered by jazz violinist Joe Venuti,[3] who had obtained a contract to perform at the Peabody Hotel in the summer of 1937.

[3] She went to New York City and played with Crosby's band for two weeks until she was dismissed by the show's sponsor for being considered "too earthy".

From 1943 to 1945 she sang with Charlie Barnet's ensemble, retiring for a year after contracting pneumonia and later developing nodes on her vocal cords as a result of fatigue and overwork.

The label had a number of female singers signed up, including Peggy Lee, Ella Mae Morse, Jo Stafford, and Margaret Whiting, so it was hard to find her a niche of her own.

In 1948 when the American Federation of Musicians was threatening a strike, Capitol wanted to have each of its singers record a back list for future release.

In 1950, she returned home to Dougherty and heard a fiddle recording of "Bonaparte's Retreat" by Pee Wee King.

[10][11] After rock-and-roll swept established performers from the charts, Starr appeared in the television series Club Oasis, mostly associated with the bandleader Spike Jones.