Big band singer Connie Haines has died from a neuromuscular disease at the age of 87.
Haines, born Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais in Savannah, Georgia, began singing at the age of five, and at the age of nine had her own radio show. By the time she was a 18, she was working with Frank Sinatra and the Tommy Dorsey Band, establishing herself as one of the top female singers of the big band era. Once the fashion for big band waned, she became a solo artist, and, during the course of her career, released more than 200 recordings and became the first white artist to record on the Motown label. She also had something of an acting career, appearing in a number of films in the forties and fifties, and also touring with comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
She is survived by her mother Mildred, who is 109, a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.