[3] Stewart is the daughter of (restaurant fruit salesman) Samuel Galitz,[4] the owner of an egg, butter and cheese store in the 2000 block of N. 31st Street in the Strawberry Mansion section of Philadelphia.
[5] When she was nine years old, she began performing on radio station WPEN in Philadelphia as a member of the cast of Jackie Kane's Juvenile Variety Show.
[4] In her teens she sang on the radio for NBC accompanied by a band of Mundell Lowe, Dick Hyman, Eddie Safranski, and Don Lamond.
[3] During the 1961–63 television seasons, she appeared often on The Perry Como Show as part of The Kraft Music Hall Players with Don Adams, Kaye Ballard and Paul Lynde.
Stewart worked as a ghost singer, dubbing singing segments for stars in films, and she recorded jingles for commercials for products including Bain De Soleil, Easy Spirit, and Enjoli.