The Women of the Big Band Era

Women of the Big Band Era that Everyone Should Know

2 were Singers in a Big Band

2 were Big Bands

2 were Sister Acts

And 2 were Stars on the Swing Dance Floors

These are just some (not all) of the women of the Big Band Era that I wanted to highlight for today’s post.

Note: I’m focusing most of my post on the “not always mentioned” women. We all adore and know Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald and there is loads written about them so this is why you won’t see them in this post. 


For further reading please check out all the posts I have done on this subject on my dedicated page “Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know“. (Jan 2024 update)


The Girl Groups:

The Boswell Sisters

1930s vintage photo: The Boswell Sisters with Bing Crosby

The Boswell Sisters were a close harmony singing group, consisting of sisters Martha Boswell, Connee Boswell, and Helvetia “Vet” Boswell, noted for intricate harmonies and rhythmic experimentation (source).

They had up 20 hits during the 1930s, including the number-one record “The Object of My Affection” (1935). They also completed two successful tours of Europe, appeared on the inaugural television broadcast of CBS, and performed on Hello, Europe, the first internationally broadcast radio program.

The Sisters were also some of the radio’s earliest stars, making them one of the first hit acts of the mass-entertainment age. In 1934, the Sisters appeared 13 times on the Bing Crosby Entertains radio show on CBS. They were featured in fan magazines, and their likenesses were used in advertisements for beauty and household products (source).

For more information please visit the official Boswell website HERE.

Andrew Sisters

1940s vintage photo of Big Band Singers the Andrew Sisters in uniform.

The Andrew Sisters started out as a tribute band to the sisters mentioned above “The Boswells” but quickly found their own style and their own hits turning them into America’s most popular female singing group.

The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia, soprano Maxine Angelyn “Maxene”, and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie “Patty”. After 6 years on the road with various dance bands and touring in vaudville, they had their first hit with “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön”. They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the next two years and they became a household name by the 1940s.

The sisters sold well over 75 million records (the last official count released by MCA Records in the mid-1970s), starred in 17 Hollywood movies and were established radio personalities. Their 1941 hit “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” can be considered an early example of rhythm and blues or jump blues (source).

During their musical career they were very active in their patriotic duty of wartime entertainment. They volunteered their free time to entertain enlisted and wounded men by singing, dancing and signing autographs (source).

For more on the Andrew Sisters please visit their official site HERE.


The Big Band Singers:

Helen Forrest

1940s vintage photo of Helen Forrest 1945 in novelty blouse

Helen served as the “girl singer” for three of the most popular big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, and Harry James), thereby earning a reputation as “the voice of the name bands” (source) . She is regarded by some as the best female vocalist of the swing era. With James she had three million selling records and countless Top Ten hits, and for two years running was voted the most popular female vocalist in America (source).

FACT: Helen Forrest was one of the first singers in the big band era whose vocals were featured throughout a full band arrangement. Before this time, big band vocalists usually sang in the middle of a song (Source).

For more information on Helen visit HERE.

Martha Tilton 

1940s vintage photo of Big Band Singer martha tilton
Source: Old Time Radio Catalog

Martha Tilton, who as one of Benny Goodman’s vocalists in the 1930s was billed as the “Sweetheart of Swing” and appeared on 80 of his recordings (source). She also appeared with Jimmy Dorsey and briefly with Artie Shaw later on in her career.

Fun Story:

Early in her career with the Goodman organization, Martha was singing at the SunnyBrook Ballroom in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. When it came time for Benny to introduce her, he gave her a big buildup: “Here is a pretty gal from Hollywood that’s really going places.” But Martha missed her cue. When she didn’t appear on stage, after a moment Benny ad-libbed, “She’s not going places, she’s already gone.” (source).

For more information on Martha visit HERE.


The Big Bands:

International Sweethearts of Rhythm

1940s vintage photo of all feamle big band, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all women’s band in the United States.

The Sweethearts began in the rural junction of Piney Woods, Miss., in 1937. Lawrence Jones had founded a vocational school there primarily for young Black children and teens and wanted to raise money by forming a student swing band (Source).  The original members of the Sweethearts were all students, who were African American or mixed raced, during the 1930s. 

Operating from 1938 to 1946, their boom in popularity came during World War II, when many male jazz artists were serving overseas, leaving an opportunity for women to shine their talents at home. Over time, the group attracted some of the country’s strongest female jazz instrumentalists of the era. One of the group’s standout performers was trumpeter Ernestine Carroll, better known as “Tiny Davis,” who was affectionately referred to as the female Louis Armstrong. Armstrong, in fact, was counted among her fans (Source).

Things were not easy for the band. In 1943, two white women joined the ensemble, making it an interracial band performing in the Deep South during Jim Crow. The law forced the band to sleep and eat on their bus because of the segregation laws that prevented them from using restaurants and hotels (among many other issues brought on by this law). In order to navigate this racial divide, the band added “international” to its name.  Labeling themselves as international provided the group a social space that allowed the band to rest somewhat outside the Southern racial structure (Source).

Though known mostly to Black audiences the band quickly rose in popularity playing in theatres like the Apollo in Harlem and the Howard Theatre in Washington when the band set a new box office record of 35,000 patrons in one week of 1941. The Sweethearts also gained an international audience when they spent time entertaining African American troops stationed in Europe for the USO.

In 1944 the band was named “America’s No. 1 All-Girl Orchestra” by Downbeat magazine.

1940s Vintage Photo of The International Sweethearts of Rhythm in the 1940s
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm in the 1940s.

For more information on the Sweethearts please take a look at the INCREDIBLE photos from the Smithsonian Museum.

Ivy Benson and Her All-Girl Band

1940s vintage photo of Big Band leader Ivy Benson and her all girl orchestra

Ivy Benson was an English musician and bandleader, who in 1939 led an all-female swing band to prove to the world that women could be good musicians too. Benson and her band rose to fame in the 1940s, headlining variety theatres and topping the bill at the London Palladium, and became the BBC’s resident house band. Her band (in one form or another) ran from 1939 to 1982. During those years, she gave hundreds of girls and women the chance to become professional musicians.

Fun Fact: Benson’s band had a high turnover of musicians, as they frequently left to marry G.I.s they met while touring. She once commented, “I lost seven in one year to America. Only the other week a girl slipped away from the stage. I thought she was going to the lavatory but she went off with a G.I. Nobody’s seen her since” (source).

For more on Ivy visit HERE.


The Dancers:

Norma Miller-The Queen of Swing

1940s vintage photo of Norma Miller Lindy Hopper

(Update since I wrote this piece in 2016- Norma Passed away in 2019 at 99)

Known to many as the Queen of Swing, and the last living member of Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers, the group that took Lindy Hop — the original swing dance — out of Harlem’s ballrooms and across the world

Norma Miller was first discovered as a gifted young Lindy Hopper when she was just 12 years old.  She was found dancing on the sidewalk outside of the Savoy Ballroom (because she was too young to go in) where the music could be heard quite well (source).

Later that year, Miller entered the Savoy Lindy Hop Contest, which was held at the Apollo Theater. Miller entered with one of her high school friends. They won the contest and Norma was asked to join Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers. The group rose to prominence after winning a contest at the Harvest Moon Ball. Miller and the group performed on Broadway and in several motion pictures.

Miller has written several books, appeared in six films and four television series.

In 2003, Miller was given a “National Heritage Fellowship” from the National Endowment for the Arts for creating and continuing to preserve “the acrobatic style swing dance, known as the Lindy Hop (source).

Today Norma currently tours the world, spreading the joy and history of Lindy Hop to new generations of swing dancers and interested audiences.

On a personal level I have been fortunate enough to meet Norma in person when she was visiting Toronto a couple of years ago for a Lindy Hop weekend. She is an incredible woman with so much sass and humor, you cannot help but be instantly drawn to her.

For more on Norma please visit her website HERE.

Here is her most well-known film appearance is in the swing dancing scene in the film Hellzapoppin, featuring Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers.

Jewel McCowan

1940s vintage photo of Jewel McGowan Lindy Hop

Jewel by the age of 19 was working as a dancer in music clubs, and doing the Southern California partnered street dance known to them as “Swing”. It was during this time in the late 1930s that a New Jersey Lindy Hop dancer going by the name Dean Collins came to town looking for a partner. He found Jewel, and out of their collaboration came what is now widely regarded as the greatest dancing partnership of the original swing dance era. They would go on to appear in dozens of Hollywood films and shorts.

Jewel did not dance a lot of variations, but instead expressed her powerful voice in her movement and attitude. Jewels swivels (you will know them when you see them) are credited as being without equal (source).

Here is a compilation of Jewel’s movies (and moves).


Well friends, I hope you enjoyed learning about SOME of the women of the Big Band Era. Please share in the comment section below who you enjoyed learning about.

Also, don’t forget to check out ALL the fantastic women I have written about as of January 2024 on my ‘Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know‘ series page.

Liz 🙂

35 Comments on Women of the Big Band Era that Everyone Should Know

  1. What a history lesson in music! I hadn’t heard of many of these groups. And The International Sweethearts of Rhythm blows my mind. As many old pics as my eyes have seen, I’ve never seen a group like that. It sure would be good for young girls to see such a thing. It does make me sad that these names have mostly been forgotten. Thanks for bringing them back to life in WordPress!

    • The Sweethearts are really amazing. What they went thru, especially in the south to bring their love of music to the stage was simply courageous. I also agree that I wish that more girls saw the women like this as inspiration as opposed to some of the options that they have today.

      So glad you enjoyed the post 🙂

  2. Liz, this was such an excellent, engaging read. Love it to bits! Thank you very much for the hard work that you put into this terrific post and for the reminder of just how many amazing ladies truly helped to make the Big Band era that incredible time in musical (and cultural) history that it was.

    ♥ Jessica

    • Thanks so much Jessica! I was going with the “International Women’s Day” theme and thought it was time that some of these ladies were brought to the blog world.

      Glad you enjoyed it.

      Liz 🙂

  3. I found this all so interesting, except for the Andrews Sisters I did not know about any of them. The women all have such wonderfully powerful voices and I love the harmonies. I was blown away by the dancing, how amazing. I can’t even imagine how people get their legs to move like that! I loved the all women bands too.

  4. Saw Helen Forrest nearly made me cry I backed her as lead horn with the Bob Eberle band in New York Cavalcade of Bands oh so many years ago-We played opposite of My idol H.J She was simply stunning, sang like a meadowlark, every time I played for her I had to say
    “be quiet my heart” she was letter perfect, the kind of lady not here any longer-makes me misty!

    • Oh wow Milt! Thank you so much for sharing your story (So wonderful that you backed her! What a memory), she was truly a talented singer and simply stunning. I wish I could of gotten the chance to see her live (maybe in another life), but I’m thankful for all the music that is around today.

      Thanks for dropping a comment here 🙂

      Liz

  5. Looking at all of the comments here and wonder if anyone can tell me if they’ve ever heard of a lady by the name of Helen Haupt who at one time was a member of an all female orchestra. She married a musician by the name of Eddie Condon.
    She was my aunt and I didn’t meet her until late in her life when she was in the care of my grandmother. At that time Aunt Helen had throat cancer and couldn’t talk. How I would have loved to hear more. That we back in the 70s and she must have been in her 60s then.
    My father, who recently turned 87 has told me bits and pieces but I’ve looked everywhere and can’t find any info or trace of Aunt Helen.
    I’d love to hear if anyone has any info. Thank you

    • Hi Lisa! thanks for dropping by with your inquiry. I’m going to reach out to I contact I have at a radio station who has a weekly big band show. He is apparently an encyclopdia of knowledge of that time period, so he might have information for you. I will let you know if I find out anything.

      Liz

  6. Among the women of the swing era “everyone should know” are two giants: Ella Fitzgerald, who got her start singing with Chick Webb at the Savoy Ballroom, and Billie Holiday, who toured with Count Basie and Artie Shaw early in her career. Other important black female vocalists of the era include Ivie Anderson (Duke Ellington), Helen Humes, Holliday’s successor in the Basie Orchestra, and Anna Mae Winburn, leader of the the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. The preview image for the video of “Jump Children” that you link to is of Winburn.

  7. My dear friend and ex Benny Goodman singer Louise Tobin, who also is credited for finding Frank Sinatra when she was married to Harry James, just turned 100 years young. I suggest that you check her out by visiting the website at Texas A&M Commerce.
    https://dmc.tamuc.edu/digital/collection/ltphjc
    She is a treasure. A wonderful person with a musical history that deserves a mention.
    Thank you

    • Thank you Michael, I will do a read and look into creating a future blog post. Please note that I was not trying to leave people out intentionally, I just sadly can’t do everyone in one blog post otherwise it will be a book haha. There are soooo many amazing women during this time period (Like Louise) that deserve acknowledgement and I hope to get to as many as I can while I have this blog.

      Thanks for the information, I truly appreciate it.

      Liz

  8. this is an amazing post, I’m a really interested in learning more about the era and it’s music, the singers and bands, both male and female that saw this spark in life that seems to have been lost.
    Would it be possible for anyone to guide me on my way? in case it helps, I’m also a big fan of Baker, Aretha Franklin,…. swing/blues jazz of the era and anything you could teach me or share with me would be really appreciated!

    • Hi Ben. So glad you are into learning about the music from that era. The music was pretty amazing, that is for sure! Did you see my part 2 post? http://www.vintageinn.ca/2019/05/women-of-the-big-band-era-everyone-show-know-part-2/

      As for other “guides” well the internet is a gold mine of information, you just have to type in “history of swing music” and loads of websites and posts will show up. BUT if I could offer 1 solid piece of advice on getting a good idea about Jazz Music and it’s history, then you 100% MUST WATCH Ken Burns “JAZZ”. https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/jazz This documentary is absolutely amazing! And it is a great guide to the history of everything you want to learn about. I Have seen it personally a couple of times. YouTube has the episodes to watch (I believe).

      Happy watching and learning 🙂

      Liz

  9. Wonderful Site ! Learned So Much I didn’t know ! My Favorite of All the Girl Singers From that Time is Martha Tilton . Long Career with Some of the Best Big Bands including Goodman ,of course . Many references of Her on the Net , including USO Tours during WWll .

    • Hi Joe!

      So glad you enjoyed the post and learned some new stuff as well! Fantastic 🙂 Martha Tilton is pretty darn wonderful and I like her as well.

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Liz

  10. Thank you for this article. I do a community radio show in Belfast Maine and I wanted to know more female big-band singers. This blog just made this episode of my show a thousand times better. Thank you!

  11. Liz I found this site after reading your and people who are old enough to remember the early 1940’s. “Very Interesting” read and information.. I Hope I can get this to your page. If not I will try and give you the URL for you to read & Post.
    PS I don’t have a website, so hope this works. I just turned 79 on 9/3/2020. I grew up with this music all during the 1940’s. But, Glenn Miller is my favorite band.

    http://glennmillertrust.co.uk/Pat-friday.htm

    • Thank you so very much for commenting and sharing the website for Glenn Miller (I’m a huge fan of Glenn Miller. My grandfather had all his music and he was my into the world of Big Band Music).

      I have never heard of Pat Friday and I’m going to make sure I add her to my post because she is 100% a person who needs to be mentioned here. Thank you for sharing this!

      Have a wonderful day!

      Liz

  12. Well, I put the URL up for you to watch the Glenn Miller band and read the article on the two movies he made. The whole thing surprised me. But loved both movies. I had watched them before I knew about this surprising fact.
    Thank You, all of this brings back so many memories, but more than that, My Wonderful, Beautiful Mother. She passed away in 2005. I miss her so much. But be it God’s will I will see her again.
    Sincerely,
    Jo A. Taylor
    Indiana

  13. I can’t believe I just saw this, what a wonderful list. I’m a huge fan of the Big Band ladies. They are so overlooked and it’s a shame. We know the Bandleaders, but not the ladies that elevated the music of that era to an entirely new level of AMAZING! May I suggest a few of my favorites that weren’t mentioned? We can talk about the more well-known ladies, like Dinah and Doris, but how about the adorable Kitty Kallen, who sings It’s Been a Long, Long Time better than anyone else ever, then there’s Helen O’Connell, Kay Starr, Fran Warren, Helen Ward, Margaret Whiting, the Snootie Little Cutie Connie Haines, and the incredible Jo Stafford, who had such a vast body of work….and I saw you added Bea Wain…perfect! We also can’t forget the wonderful Vera Lynn, who brought the Big Band sound to GI’s across the pond…and rounding it out, the 4 Clark sisters that made up The Sentimentalists!

    • Ahhh all super names! Some I know and some I don’t know. You have motivated me to get my blogging skills going and do a part 3 very soon.

      Thank you so much for sharing all your favs! Love this 🙂

      Liz

  14. Great archival info here. Love the era. I’ve been digitizing my Dad’s record collection from the late 1800’s on, since 2012. I research it all as I go. Lately my Mum and I were trying to recall which 30’s-40’s era female vocalist was overheard and hired by a band leader while she was working in a grocery store bakery operating a bread slicer. Would you happen to know this one? Also, Can’t get enough of…well, I was going to name one but really, can’t get enough of ANY of them! Impossible for me to name a fave, they’re all Angels of song.

    • Hi there!

      What a great idea on the digitizing the record collection and to keep his collection alive for years to come. Great job.

      As for your request I’m not sure myself. I am firing this question off to a friend who is well more versed in the female singers of the big band era then myself and see what she says. I will get back to you.

      Thanks for dropping by!

      Liz

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