Here Kitty, Kitty… Kitty?

Or

Bury Me Mucho

Kitty Kallen, a pop singer from the Big Band era through the early days of rock and or roll has died at the age of 94. She sang with the biggest big band leaders of the 1940s, including Jimmy Dorsey – performing the vocals on his #1 hit Besame Mucho - and Harry James, and was a favorite of WWII American servicemen with They're Either Too Young or Too Old and with It's Been a Long, Long Time, which became a symbol of the end of World War II and returning troops. She established a solo career, with perhaps her best-known recording was 1954’s Little Things Mean a Lot, which was #1 for 9 weeks, was on the charts for 7 months, hit #1 on the UK singles chart, and sold more than two million copies. The song was a major contributor to being named “Most popular female singer" for 1954 by both Billboard and Variety. Then in the 3^rd act of her Behind the Music, Kallen lost her voice at the Palladium in 1955 and left singing for 4 years due to paralyzed vocal cords. She eventually resumed her career and finished with 13 top-ten career hits. She starred on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow and in the 1955 film The Second Greatest Sex. In 2009, Kallen was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.