At the age of 19 she was a member of the Leo Reisman Orchestra, with whom in 1931 she recorded three songs: "Take It from Me", "Time On My Hands", and her composition "Got the South in My Soul".

[4] She sang on the Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt program on NBC in 1932,[5] and was featured on Victor Young's radio show in 1933.

A collaboration with composer Victor Young resulted in several songs for which Wiley wrote the lyrics, including "Got the South in My Soul" and "Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere.

The couple was described by their friend Deane Kincaide as being as "compatible as two cats, tails tied together, hanging over a clothesline"; they divorced in 1948.

Wiley died of cancer on December 11, 1975 at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York City at the age of 67.