Last member of famed Andrews Sisters dies

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LOS ANGELES - Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II and later entertained audiences in Las Vegas, died Wednesday. She was 94.

Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.

Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.

She also could deliver sentimental ballads like "I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time" with a sincerity that caused hardened GIs far from home to weep.

From the late 1930s through the 1940s, the Andrews Sisters produced one hit record after another, beginning with "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" in 1937 and continuing with "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," "Rum and Coca-Cola" and more. They recorded more than 400 songs and sold more than 80 million records, several of them going gold (over a million copies).

Other sisters, notably the Boswells, had become famous as singing acts, but mostly they huddled before a microphone in close harmony. The Andrews Sisters - LaVerne, Maxene and Patty - added a new dimension. During breaks in their singing, they cavorted about the stage in rhythm to the music.

The Andrews Sisters' rise coincided with the advent of swing music, and their style fit perfectly into the new craze.

The Andrews' popularity led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where they made a dozen low-budget musical comedies between 1940 and 1944.

The Andrews Sisters headlined in Las Vegas throughout the 1950s after making their Las Vegas debut in 1947 for the second grand opening of the Flamingo.

(After the Flamingo opened and infamously sputtered out of the gate in late December 1946, it was relaunched on March 1, 1947, with the sisters cutting the red ribbon and performing to opening-night dignitaries.)

The Flamingo also hosted the sisters' "final" show in August 1953 and the first engagement of their reunion in June 1956. Patty Andrews sang in Las Vegas as a solo act in the interim. The trio also performed at the Sahara and Riviera through at least 1960.

The trio continued until LaVerne's death in 1967. By that time the close harmony had turned to discord in legal disputes.

Bette Midler's 1973 cover of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" revived interest in the trio. The two survivors joined in 1974 for a Broadway show, "Over Here!" It ran for more than a year, but disputes with the producers led to the cancellation of the national tour of the show, and the sisters did not perform together again.

Patty continued on her own, finding success in Las Vegas and on TV variety shows. Her sister also toured solo until her death in 1995.

Patty Andrews is survived by her foster daughter, Pam DuBois, a niece and several cousins.

Review-Journal staff writer Mike Weatherford contributed to this report.