Kay Starr
American singer (1922–2016)
Kay Starr (born Catherine Laverne Starks; July 21, 1922 – November 3, 2016) was an American singer who enjoyed considerable success in the late 1940s and 1950s. She was of Iroquois and Irish heritage. Starr performed multiple genres, such as pop, jazz, and country, but her roots were in jazz. Her 1952 song "Wheel of Fortune" was a smash hit, and later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Additionally, she had big hits with "Allez-Vous-En" (from the Broadway show CAN-CAN) and "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" in 1953 and 1954, respectively.
Early life
Catherine Laverne Starks was born in Dougherty, Oklahoma, to Annie and Harry Starks. Her mother's ancestors were Irish-American, while her father was a Native American Iroquois. She later claimed to be both Cherokee and Choctaw descent. When she was three years old, the Starks family moved to Dallas, Texas, where her father obtained a job installing building sprinklers. Her mother raised chickens to support the family as well.
The public source identifies “Kay Starr” as american singer (1922–2016). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Starr, American and singer.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q469125. VIAF identifies the subject as 71579392. The Library of Congress control number is n91072807. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1922, 2016, 1952 and 1953.
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This entry incorporates text from “Kay Starr” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.