Patty Andrews was the last surviving member of The Andrews Sisters. She passed away at age 94 in her home in Los Angeles. She was the lead singer of The Andrews Sisters. They recorded over 400 songs and sold more than 80 million records during their long career. You can check out a lot of their amazingness in
The Best of the Andrews Sisters. Known mostly for their work with the USO and entertaining troops over seas, they held a special place in the hearts of many of the service men they entertained and brought hope to during those dark times during World War II. They were the first sister act to break away from being huddled around a microphone singing to dancing to the music during breaks in the songs which really brought up the energy and made it more of a stage show which put them ahead of the other acts of that time period. They were also recorded with popular bands of the time period, such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller.
Patty was preceded in death by her husband and both of her sisters. LaVerne Andrews died in 1967 of cancer and Maxene Andrews died in 1995 of a heart attack.
I was always a big fan of the Andrew Sisters thanks to my grandmother's love of music. When I first started doing burlesque I was in a period themed troupe and I tried to track down everything I could as far as music from the 1940s. Every single compilation or box set I could find was full of their hits. The Andrew Sisters were everywhere and had songs that ranged from up beat messages of hope to slow sad ballads that were full of longing to be at home with your loved ones. Each beautiful song held meaning and frozen moments of time for a war where so many passed away and would never see their loved ones again. They spread their songs from base camp to base camp helping bring a little piece of home to all of those soldiers over seas. It's a sad day that the last piece of history and American Patriotism that was The Andrews Sisters is now gone, hopefully they're doing beautiful trios in the afterlife.
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