Real name: Mary Jean Loutsenhizer

Effective period / Period of releases: 1952 - 2007

Born: 8th November 1927 Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Died: 29th August 2009 Toms River, New Jersey, USA
American jazz vocalist. First major appearance by the end of the 40's with Claude Thornhill's vocal group The Snowflakes. After a stint with Jerry Wald's jazz group, she had major success with Stan Kenton's band in the early 50's before breaking as a solo act by the mid 50's becoming the best-selling artist for the Bethlehem label before signing as the first jazz singer to the Atlantic label.