Ina Ray Hutton(1916-1984)

Ina Ray Hutton, daughter of pianist Marvel Ray, sang and danced in stage revues from the age of 8, culminating in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. In mid-1934, she organized an "all-girl" band, the Melodears, featuring hot swing music and Ina Ray's hot dancing in sexy gowns. Ina Ray starred with her band in several Paramount musical shorts, 1935-37, and appeared as herself in a few feature films, but her chief claim to film fame is the starring role in a Columbia musical, Ever Since Venus (1944) (1944). The Melodears broke up in 1939 and Ina Ray organized an all-male band which played through the forties. She was the only woman to lead a prominent Big Band in that era. From 1951-1956 her new all-female band had a show on regional TV, with a brief national network run in 1956. She retired from music in 1968; she was divorced from her fourth husband, businessman 'Jack Curtis' when she died at age 67 of complications from diabetes.