Kathleen Lane, sometimes billed as Kitty Lane, was a Big Band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 singer in the 1930s and 40s.

Life and career

She joined Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller

Alton Glenn Miller was an American jazz musician , arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was one of the best-selling recording artists from 1939 to 1943, leading one of the best known "Big Bands"...

’s unsuccessful first band in May or June 1937, replacing Vi Mele. She recorded five songs with Miller in November and December; "Sweet Stranger" made Metronomes Best Records list and editor George T. Simon became one of her staunchest supporters. After Miller’s group folded in January 1938, she signed with Isham Jones

Isham Jones

Isham Jones was a United States bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.-Career:Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where he started his first band...

, but did not record with the band. In late October or early November of that year, she joined Bunny Berigan

Bunny Berigan

Rowland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan was an American jazz trumpeter who rose to fame during the swing era, but whose virtuosity and influence were shortened by a losing battle with alcoholism that ended in his early death at age 33. He composed the jazz instrumentals "Chicken and Waffles" and "Blues"...

 (with husband Jerry Johnson as band manager) and recorded two sides, "I Cried for You

I Cried for You

"I Cried for You" is a song by Georgian born songstress Katie Melua, and was the second single from her second album, Piece by Piece. The single is a double A-side consisting of "I Cried for You", which is one of Melua's own compositions, and a cover of The Cure's song "Just like Heaven", the...

" (which reached #13 on the record charts) and "'Deed I Do

'Deed I Do

"Deed I Do" is a 1926 jazz standard composed by Fred Rose with lyrics by Walter Hirsch. It was introduced by vaudeville performer S. L. Stambaugh and popularized by Ben Bernie's recording. It was recorded by influential clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman as his debut recording in December...

". By March 1939 she'd been replaced by former Charlie Barnet

Charlie Barnet

Charles Daly Barnet was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader.His major recordings were "Skyliner", "Cherokee", "The Wrong Idea", "Scotch and Soda", "In a Mizz", and "Southland Shuffle".-Early life:...

 vocalist Kathleen Long, with whom she is frequently confused.

A few months later, Lane was appearing with Bob Chester

Bob Chester

Bob Chester was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist.Chester's stepfather ran General Motors's Fisher Body Works. He began his career as a sideman under Irving Aaronson, Ben Bernie, and Ben Pollack. He formed his own group in Detroit in 1939, with a Glenn...

 and during the summer of 1939 she recorded seven sides, among them a standout version of "Just For A Thrill". On September 21, 1939, she appeared on Chester's short-lived 15-minute radio show on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

; the program was archived (along with the rest of Washington, D. C. station WJSV

WJSV

-Educational WJSV :WJSV is a student-run radio station in Morristown, New Jersey. WJSV is run by students of Morristown High School and owned by the Morris School District. WJSV, first bought by the Morris School District in 1971, generally broadcasts Monday through Friday from 7:30 am to 10:00 pm...

's broadcast day) and is still circulated by Old Time Radio collectors and on the internet. She stayed with Chester until October, when Dolores O'Neill became the band's featured attraction.

In early November, Metronome announced that Lane had joined Red Norvo

Red Norvo

Red Norvo was one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba and later the vibraphone as viable jazz instruments...

's band, but her stay was brief: in a matter of weeks she was appearing at the Strand Theater in New York with the Bob Crosby

Bob Crosby

George Robert "Bob" Crosby was an American dixieland bandleader and vocalist, best known for his group the Bob-Cats.-Family:...

 Orchestra, possibly as a last-minute substitute for Doris Day

Doris Day

Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...

. In October 1940, Lane was Bunny Berigan's guest vocalist at the World's Fair in Flushing, New York, singing "Rumboogie" and "A Million Dreams Ago". The following month she auditioned for NBC's "Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street" but Dolores O'Neill got the job. In December, Lane was back at the Strand, this time with Woody Herman

Woody Herman

Woodrow Charles Herman , known as Woody Herman, was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd," Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and '40s bandleaders...

. Like the Crosby and Norvo gigs, the Strand date with Herman seems to have been a temporary arrangement: Lane did not record with Herman's Herd and apparently retired from the music business in 1941.

Glenn Miller recordings

Recordings with Glenn Miller:

• "My Fine Feathered Friend"
• "Doin' the Jive
  Doin' the Jive
  Doin' the Jive is a 1938 song composed by Glenn Miller and pianist Chummy MacGregor. The song was released as a 78 single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra on Brunswick....
  
  "
• "Silhouetted In the Moonlight"
• "Every Day’s A Holiday"
• "Sweet Stranger"

Bob Chester recordings

Recordings with Bob Chester:

• "Just For A Thrill"
• "Shoot The Sherbet To Me, Herbert" (also sang on CBS 9/21/39; see above)
• "You Tell Me Your Dreams and I'll Tell You Mine"
• "Billy"
• "Oo, Oo, Oo, I'm Thrilled"
• "Goodbye, Goodbye"
• "I Can't Tell You Why I Love You, But I Do"

Sources

• Walker, Leo. The Big Band Almanac. Da Capo, 1989.
• Simon, George T. The Big Bands. Foreword by Frank Sinatra. Schirmer Books; 4th edition (March 4, 1982).