Yvonne King Burch, one of the singing King Sisters, an accomplished swing-era vocal group that later starred with their extended family in a television variety show, has died. She was 89.
Burch, who was injured in a fall, died Sunday at a hospital in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Born Jan. 20, 1920, in Ephraim, Utah, she was the sixth of eight children of William King Driggs, a vocal trainer, and his wife, Pearl.
Her father was an old-time vaudevillian who trained his children to sing. Billed as the Driggs Family of Entertainers, they toured the West, eventually settling in Oakland, Calif.
When her three oldest sisters — Maxine, Luise and Alyce — formed their own vocal group in junior high, they billed themselves as the King Sisters. The trio became a quartet when Yvonne, then 14, joined with another sister, Donna, after Maxine left to get married.
With another sister and a friend in the lineup, they became known as the Six King Sisters. They first attracted attention in 1935 by performing with Horace Heidt’s band and appearing on his radio show.
The King Sisters scored a series of hits issued under their own name, among them “The Hut Sut Song,” “I’ll Get By” and “In the Mood.”
At the height of their success, they appeared in several movies in the 1940s, including “Sing Your Worries Away” with Buddy Ebsen, “Meet the People” with Lucille Ball and Dick Powell, and “Cuban Pete” with Desi Arnaz.
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