James Paul "Jimmy" Warburg was a banker, member of a distinguished Jewish family who had made a fortune in banking.

Before meeting George Gershwin in 1925, her musical background was classical, though she was a great fan of the songs of Irving Berlin.

Her husband Jimmy, frequently out of town on business, was tolerant, later saying that he liked Gershwin although he had some resentment toward the "self-centered genius" who had interfered with his life.

Despite their long relationship, Kay and George never married, perhaps because, as her granddaughter Katharine Weber has suggested, Gershwin's mother Rose was unhappy that she was not Jewish.

Swift met cowboy Faye Hubbard at the World's Fair rodeo, "The American Jubilee", and eloped with him two weeks later.

was made into the 1950 movie Never a Dull Moment, which featured Fred MacMurray as the cowboy and Irene Dunne as Kay.

In 1952, Kay Swift provided the score for Cornelia Otis Skinner's one-woman Broadway show Paris '90.

Shilkret said "Kay Swift, a splendid composer, wrote the music, and Russell Bennett arranged it for eleven men."