Chris Connor

Jazz vocalist Chris Connor (nee Mary Loutsenhizer) was born in Kansas City, MO, on November 8, 1927. She studied clarinet as a child and began singing professionally in her late teens, often with a college band at the University of Missouri. In 1949 she moved to New York City to concentrate full-time on a singing career, and soon landed a gig with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. She also performed with renowned jazz bandleader Stan Kenton, in addition to working with such orchestra leaders as Herbie Fields and Jerry Wald. She recorded several albums during the mid-1950s--the period of her greatest popularity--which did well both critically and financially. She was known for her habit of altering rhythms on ballads, using very little vibrato. She went into semi-retirement in the 1960s, but came back in the mid-'70s with several well-received albums with Kenton and Maynard Ferguson and a series of successful concert tours. She died of cancer in Toms River, NJ, on August 29, 2009.