There was only one singer who influenced me. I tried to sing like her all the time because everything she did made sense musically, and that singer was Connie Boswell.
Connee After the Boswell Sisters
February 12, 1936 – The Boswell Sisters make their final recording together. The Irving Berlin lyrics seem prophetic. The first number features Connee, who hereafter will be on her own, carrying the lead in “Let Yourself Go.” On the second number the Sisters harmonize throughout the song, a fitting way to declare their new lives with “I’m Putting All My Eggs in One Basket.” Vet is pregnant at the time of the recording.
We follow Connee’s career and life events from here on out below…
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Summer, 1950
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 Connee is filmed for the Universal-International short subject, “Connee Boswell and Les Brown’s Orchestra.” |
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December 19, 1951
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 Connee finally is back in the Decca recording studios and cuts four sides with the Sy Oliver Orchestra: “Somebody Stole My Darling,” “I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome,” “Begin The Beguine,” and “Believe It Beloved.” However, the voice that makes these recordings is substantially different sounding than her commercial recordings of just a few years before: there is a more raw, emotional edge which is coupled with a pronounced vibrato. This is Connee Boswell, torch singer. |
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Summer, 1952
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Connee is filmed in Hollywood for the Universal-International short subject, “Connee Boswell and Ada Leonard.” Ada leads her all-girl orchestra while Connee sings, “Come Rain, Come Shine.” She teams up with comedian Bob Hopkins, who impersonates Bing Crosby as he sings “Basin Street Blues” with Connee.
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August 1, 1952
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 In possibly two of her finest recordings ever, she cuts two tracks with Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five: “Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire,” and “”My Little Nest of Heavenly Blue.” |
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November 3, 1952
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Connee is back in Decca’s studios with the Lawson-Haggart Jazz Band, where she begins work on the “Singin’ the Blues” album. Work on the album continues in March of 1953 when she again records with Haggart and later, Paul Nielson’s Orchestra. The album, released in 1953, is Connee’s first, and was released on both EP 33 1/3RPM format and 45RPM.
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November 17, 1952
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Connee and Bing make their last recording session together when they record “That’s A Plenty,” with John Scott Trotter’s Orchestra. Ten days later, they appear together on General Electric’s “The Crosby Show.”
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1952 – 1954
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Connee is featured on a number of television programs, including “Friday with Garroway,” “The Perry Como Show,” “Chance of a Lifetime,” and others. She continues her personal appearances and occasional radio programs, including more transcription work for recruiting drives for the armed forces.
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1952
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 Connee is filmed in her NYC apartment for a series of television shorts called Snayder Telescriptions. Much like the “Soundies” of the 1930’s and 40’s, these featurettes are like early music videos. Her dog Rebel is featured along with her in some of these films. |
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February 12, 1952
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Connee makes her first attempts at multi-track taped recordings when she cuts “With One Red Rose” and “Main Street on Saturday Night.”
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February 1954
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 Connee records her last charted hit, “If I Give My Heart to You.” The song was a smash hit for Kitty Kallen but Boswell’s version rose to the #10 spot in September, 1954, and spent 11 weeks on the charts. |
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1955-1960
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Connee will continue making personal appearances and the occasional television guest spot.
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January, 1955- June, 1955
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Connee makes a series of singles for Decca including “Learn to Pray Every Day,” and “How Important Can It Be.”
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March 20, 1955
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 Connee and her husband Harry Leedy board a non-stop flight from Los Angeles to New York for a recording session. The American Airlines DC-7 makes a crash landing in Chicago due to an engine failure. During the emergency landing, Connee puts on an in-flight performance from her wheelchair to help calm everyone on board. She sang “Comin’ In on a Wing and a Prayer”. All 66 people on board escape any serious injury after the plane lost it’s nose gear and landed virtually tail up. Connee is praised for heroism by the media. |
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July 1, 1955
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Connee appears on Edward R Murrow’s “Person to Person” TV program.
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August 30, 1955
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 Vet and Martha go to see Connee perform at Jimmy Fazios Supper Club in Milwaukee. Connee persuades her sisters to join her onstage. After a couple of false starts they perform the song they would also start a show with for good luck: “Heebie Jeebies.” It was their last public appearance together. |
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April 5-6, 1956
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Connee is back in Decca’s recording studios in NYC with Sy Oliver and His Orchestra. The subsequent recordings are issued as her second album, simply named “Connee.” This is her last recording session with Decca records, ending a twenty-five year collaboration that had yielded many hit recordings.
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November 16, 1956
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 Connee is recording for RCA/Victor Records and collaborates with the Original Memphis Five. The group consisted of Jimmy Lytell, Billy Butterfield, Frank Signorelli, Miff Mole, Gene Traxler and Tony Spargo, with Boswell on vocals. The album is a mixture of instrumental and vocal arrangements and is considered by many jazz critics to be one of the finest jazz recordings of all-time. A highlight of the album is her rendition of “Gianina Mia,” where she once again borrows from the classics and creates a masterpiece, using multi-track recording to recreate the Boswell Sister sound. |
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July 21, 1957
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Connee and the Original Memphis Five appear together on the Ed Sullivan “Toast of the Town” television show.
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June 17, 1958
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Connee is recording for Design Records in NYC. Together with a lineup of top-notch musicians, including Will Bradley, George Duvivier, Mundell Lowe and George Wettling, she crafts her “Connee Boswell Sings Irving Berlin” album. The album was recorded direct to two-track and heralds her first stereophonic album.
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July 2, 1958
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Connee’s sister Martha Boswell Lloyd dies in Peekskill, NY after a lengthy illness.
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Summer, 1958
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Connee appears in her last feature film. This is a low-budget picture called “Senior Prom,” which briefly features her singing “When The Saints Go Marchin’ In.”
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Fall, 1958
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 Connee again is recording for Design and completes her last album, “Connee Boswell Sings the Rogers and Hart Songbook.” The album is promoted as the “New Sound of Connee Boswell.” Highlights of the album include a reflective and intimate Connee crooning “Where or When,” and a playful “Everything I’ve Got Belongs To You.” Even allowing for the early experimental efforts with stereo recording, it’s clear that there were many problems in the mastering and these appear in all of the subsequent issues of these sessions. |
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1959
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 Connee is featured in the 13-episode series, “Pete Kelly’s Blues.” She plays Savannah, the saloon singer.. |
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October 9, 1959
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Connee appears on the television program, “A Night of Music,” on the Bell Telephone Hour. She sings while her old friend Red Nichols and His Five Pennies, play.
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