[3] When she was a little girl, an operation on her tonsils lowered the pitch of her voice, and she focused her musical attention on piano lessons.
A St. Louis radio station held a contest to select a vocalist for a program, and Quinlan went to play piano for a singing friend in her audition.
[5] During World War II Quinlan performed for American military personnel in the United States and overseas.
That program was succeeded by The Roberta Quinlan Show, which had one fan whose interest determined the next phase of her career.
A newspaper article reported that jeweler Harry Winston "likes to see her sparkle with gems".
[7] Quinlan's performances on the program led to her winning the Favorite Woman TV Singer Award from Radio Television Mirror magazine for 1950.
[9] Quinlan was a guest on TV shows of Steve Allen, Jackie Gleason, Guy Lombardo,[10] Ken Murray[11] and Johnny Carson,[12] and she was featured in more than 40 cerebral palsy telethons across the United States.