Pat Yankee

Jazz singer, born July 2, 1929 in Lodi, California. Yankee took dance lessons as a child in both her home town and San Francisco, and by the tender age of 13 was already tap dancing in shows at the Golden Gate Theater. Two years later, she went to New York, where she was signed by Ted Lewis, and spent the next few years touring East Coast theaters in Lewis' variety show, appearing with Ben Blue, Sophie Tucker and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Returning to San Francisco, Yankee played numerous club dates before signing with Ray and Bea Goman in their North Beach review at Goman's "Gay '90s" nightclub for five years. She then formed her own singing act and toured major clubs around the country. In 1958 she joined the Turk Murphy band in San Francisco, and sang with him at the famed Earthquake McGoon's for five years before forming another band, Pat Yankee and the Sinners, touring the Las Vegas/Tahoe/Reno circuit.