Introduction
Kitty Kallen was an American singer whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s. She was widely known for her 1954 solo recording Little Things Mean a Lot, a song that stayed at the U.S. Billboard number one spot for nine consecutive weeks and took top honor as 1954’s #1 song of the year, charted in the U.S. for almost seven months, hit No. 1 on the UK singles chart, and sold more than two million copies.
Early Life and Career
Born Katie Kallen on May 25, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Fannie Kalinsky (later Kallen), she was one of seven children . As a child, she won an amateur contest by imitating popular singers. When she returned home with her prize, a camera, her father did not believe her and punished her for stealing the camera. Only when neighbors subsequently visited to congratulate her did Kallen’s father realize she had actually won it .
As a young girl, she sang on The Children’s Hour, a radio program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, the legendary automat chain. As a preteen, Kallen had a radio program on Philadelphia’s WCAU and sang with the big bands of Jan Savitt in 1936, Artie Shaw in 1938, and Jack Teagarden in 1939 . It was with Teagarden’s band that Kallen cut her first records, eight sides in total .
Solo Career
At 21, she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing Helen O’Connell. One of her recordings with Dorsey was a favorite of American servicemen: They’re Either Too Young or Too Old reached the No. 2 position in the Billboard charts in 1944 . During the height of her popularity, three imposters billed themselves as Kitty Kallen. When one of them, Genevieve Agostinello, died in 1978, it was incorrectly reported that Kallen herself had died .
Voted most popular female singer in 1954 in both Billboard and Variety polls . Kallen lost her voice at the London Palladium in 1955 at the top of her career and stopped singing before an audience for four years . After testing her voice under a pseudonym in small town venues, she ultimately returned and went on to achieve 13 top-ten career hits.
Cause of Death
On January 7th, 2016, Kitty Kallen died at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico due to non-communicable disease. The exact cause of death has not been reported.
Conclusion
Kitty Kallen was an accomplished singer who left an indelible mark on American music history. Her legacy continues to inspire new generations of musicians and fans alike..
