"Wheel of Fortune" by Kay Starr

Chances are good that if you are into popular music from the mid-20th Century that you have heard of Kay Starr. Blessed with a beautiful voice, she had such hits as "Wheel of Fortune," "Side by Side," "The Rock and Roll Waltz," and the Christmas song "(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man with the Bag." What you might not know is that Kay Starr was Native American. Her father was a full-blooded Iroquois. Her mother was part Choctaw, part Cherokee, and part Irish.

Kay Starr was born Catherine Laverne Starks in Dougherty, Oklahoma. Her family later moved to Dallas. It was after she had won several talent contests as a young girl that Dallas radio station WRR gave young Catherine her own 15-minute show. She was only ten years old when she was making $3 a night singing, a good amount of money during the Great Depression. Her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she continued singing. She received a good amount of fan mail when she sang at Memphis station WMPS. Unfortunately, many of her fan letters misspelled her name. Young Catherine and her parents then decided she should take the stage name "Kay Starr."

By 1939 Kay Starr was singing with the likes of Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller. During the Forties she sang with Wingy Manone and Charlie Barnet. It was in 1946 that she became a solo artist and signed with Capitol Records. After having a few modest hits, Kay Starr had her first major hit with "Hoop-de-Doo" in 1949, which went to no. 2 on the Billboard chart. It was followed in 1950 by her second major hit, "Bonaparte's Retreat." By the time of her biggest hit, "Wheel of Fortune," Miss Starr had already had several hit records. Her version of "Wheel of Fortune" hit no. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1952 and remained there for ten weeks. While Kay Starr had many other hits (including "The Rock and Roll Waltz," which also hit no. 1), none matched the success of "Wheel of Fortune."

Here, without further ado, is Kay Starr's rendition of "Wheel of Fortune."