Marilyn King dies at 82; singer with the King Sisters
By Randy Lewis
August 8, 2013, 8:21 p.m.
Marilyn King, the youngest and last surviving member of the King Sisters, a
singing group with roots in the big-band era that found renewed popularity
in the 1960s performing with their large extended family on a TV variety
show, has died. She was 82.
King died Wednesday of cancer in Laguna Niguel, her family announced.
The group was originally assembled in the 1930s by their father, William
King Driggs, a voice trainer and vaudevillian. Early on they were billed as
the Six King Sisters and sang withHorace
Heidt<http://www.latimes.com/topic/entertainment/horace-heidt-PECLB00000010714.topic>'s
orchestra before paring down to a quartet that featured Marilyn's older
sisters, Alyce, Donna, Luise and Yvonne, whose jazz harmonies earned them
considerable respect and commercial success.
At 13, Marilyn King began subbing with the quartet, and she became a
full-fledged member in 1951 after Donna left the group. The King Sisters
performed and recorded often with bandleader Alvino
Rey,<http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=P4gxKzvXg7Y> who
married Luise King. An album the sisters recorded for Capitol,
"Imagination," earned the Kings a Grammy nomination in 1959, the same year
they topped Playboy's jazz poll.
In the early 1960s, the King family gave a charity performance that led to
a weekly musical-variety show
onABC<http://www.latimes.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media-industry/television-industry/abc-%28tv-network%29-ORCRP000009600.topic>
, "The King Family Show." <http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=yJPdu4HmOMQ> The
series involved several generations and as many as 40 members of the
family, including Rey and his "talking steel guitar."
The program debuted in 1965, and "The King Family Show!" album released
that same year made it to No. 34 on Billboard's national album chart. But
the death of family patriarch Driggs weeks into the show's run made the
success bittersweet, according to the AllMusic online database.
Although the series was canceled after a year, it was revived for several
months in 1969. Through holiday
specials,<http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv=YFI-LpnBvL4> the
Kings continued to have a regular presence on television into the 1970s.
The King Family musical tradition has extended through successive
generations, and includes Marilyn's grandnephews Win and Will Butler of
Arcade Fire, another large ensemble in pop music.
The family started out in Utah, but Marilyn King was born May 11, 1931, in
Glendale after the Kings moved to California. She was one of eight children.
A 1966 Times review of a King Family performance in Anaheim said Marilyn
King excelled at delivering a comic song and clowned through "excellent
impressions" of such artists as Ethel Merman and Louis Armstrong.
She also was a songwriter who contributed original material to the sisters'
albums. Her songs included "The Thrill Was New" and "Hawaii Is Calling Me."
The King Sisters gave one of their final performances in 1985 at Ronald
Reagan<http://www.latimes.com/topic/politics/government/presidents-of-the-united-states/ronald-reagan-PEPLT005429.topic>'s
second presidential gala. Marilyn King last performed in concert in 2010.
Survivors include her daughter, Susannah Lloyd Foshee, and son, Adam Lloyd,
from her marriage to television syndication pioneer Howard Lloyd; a
daughter, Jennifer Larsen Staves, from her marriage to trombonist Kent
Larsen; and seven grandchildren.
Her third husband, trumpeter Dalton Smith, died in 1989.
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-marilyn-king-20130809,0,2004135.story
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
| Reply via web post | Reply to sender | Reply to group | Start a New Topic | Messages in this topic (1) |
Blog, a searchable database of obituaries
back to 2001:
http://DeadCelebrityAlert.com
- - -
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section
107, any copyrighted work in this message is
distributed under fair use without profit or
payment to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included
information for non-profit research and
educational purposes only.
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
