Paula Kelly
b. USA. Kelly was an excellent band and ensemble singer with a vivacious personality. During the late '30s, she sang with top saxophonist Dick Stabile's band, and then spent two years with Al Donahue. She joined Glenn Miller in 1941 as a featured singer with the Modernaires vocal group; her husband, Hal Dickinson, was founder-leader. Early in 1941, Kelly appeared in the first Glenn Miller movie, SUN VALLEY SERENADE, in which the Modernaires sang classics such as Chattanooga Choo Choo and I Know Why. Later in the year, she left Miller when former vocalist, Marion Hutton, rejoined the band. For a while, Kelly sang with Artie Shaw, and then for Bob Allen's band. In the mid-40s, she rejoined the Modernaires when the group expanded to five. In the '50s, they appeared in clubs and theatres, toured with Bob Crosby, and sang on his radio and television shows. They also featured with Crosby, Frankie Laine and Billy Daniels in the movie, WHEN YOU'RE SMILING (1950), and in THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1954). After Dickinson died on 18 November 1970, Kelly and the Modernaires worked with ex-Miller sideman, Tex Beneke's band, and Miller's original boy vocalist, Ray Eberle, to ride the nostalgia boom of the '70s. Her records with the Modernaires included Jukebox Saturday Night, There, I've Said It Again, You Belong To My Heart, Goody Goody, Margie and Stop, Look And Listen. With Dick Stabile she recorded Lost And Found and My Heart Is Taking Lessons; with Al Donahue, Jeepers Creepers, Moon Love, The Lambeth Walk, Stairway To The Stars and South American Way; with Artie Shaw, Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat and I Don't Want To Walk Without You. In the late '80s, Paula Kelly Jnr. was reported singing an updated version of Jukebox Saturday Night, with the Modernaires, accompanied by a 15-piece band led by the same Tex Beneke.