History

Patty, the youngest and the lead singer of the group, was only seven when the group was formed, and just twelve years old when they won first prize at a talent contest at the local Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis, where LaVerne played piano accompaniment for the silent film showings in exchange for free dancing lessons for her and her sisters. Once the sisters found fame and settled in California, their parents lived with them in a Brentwood estate until their deaths, and several cousins from Minnesota followed them west. The sisters returned to Minneapolis at least once a year to visit family and friends and/or perform.

They started their career as imitators of an earlier successful singing group, The Boswell Sisters. After singing with various dance bands and touring in vaudeville with the likes of comic bandleader Larry Rich (also known as Dick Rich), Ted Mack, and Leon Belasco, they first came to national attention with their recordings and radio broadcasts in 1937, most notably via their major Decca record hit, Bei Mir Bist Du Sch?n (translation: To me, you are beautiful), an originally Yiddish tune the lyrics of which Sammy Cahn translated to English and the girls harmonized to perfection. It sold a million copies, making them the first female vocal group to achieve a Gold Record award. They followed this success with a string of best-selling records over the next two years and they became a household name by 1940.