Jean Cromwell

American blonde female singer and songwriter from Memphis, Tennessee. Most notably she sang with Jimmy Dorsey, replacing Patti Palmer, who quit to become a mother, beginning in March of 1945. Cromwell's father was in a barbershop quartet, so she learned to sing harmonies early. When she was eight, the Cromwell Sisters (Jean and her older sisters, Clara and Violet) had their own show on Memphis radio. When she was twelve, someone sent a recording of theirs to Bob Crosby, who invited them to sing with him. He was surprised by their young age (12, 14 and 16 at the time), and they only sang with Crosby for two weeks before returning home, where they continued to sing in the radio. Next they were invited to sing with Herbie Holmes And His Orchestra, who allowed their parents to travel with them. They also toured with Lawrence Welk, until the oldest of sisters, Clara, got married. Jean was 17 at the time. After singing in a small local band, and working at a factory, she moved to New York where Clara lived, to work on commercials. At age 19, she successfully auditioned for Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra. Originally, she performed under the stage name Bonnie Cromwell (her sisters had always called her "Bony"), but Dorsey made her change it because at the time his brother's lead singer was Bonnie Lou Williams. She chose to name herself after a boy she had met in Memphis, Gene, and became Jean Cromwell. She traveled with Dorsey's band for a year and a half, after which she had gotten tired of touring and returned to Memphis. The Gene, Gene Clarke, returned home too, and they got married in the late 1940s. In Memphis, Bonnie Clarke had her own television show and was singing with a quartet. In the late 1950s, the Clarkes moved to Baton Rouge in Louisiana, where she had a television show called "The Midnight Movies." For 30 years she sang with the Sweet Adelines, and for a while served as choreographer and assistant director.