Irene Daye was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 singer.
Irene Daye began her career at age 17 by singing in Jan Murphy

Jan Murphy

Jan Murphy is a prominent journalist in Pennsylvania, working for The Patriot-News.In 2007, she and colleague Craig Staudenmaier won the "Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence" from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association...

's big band

Big band

A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...

 while still in high school in 1935, continuing with Murphy through 1937. She then worked briefly with Mal Hallett

Mal Hallett

Mal Hallett was an American jazz violinist and bandleader.Hallett was a graduate of the Boston Conservatory of Music. He played in France during World War I as a member of Al Moore's orchestra, and led his own band, primarily in New England, for much of the 1930s...

 before beginning work with Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa

Gene Krupa was an American jazz and big band drummer and composer, known for his highly energetic and flamboyant style.-Biography:...

, with whose orchestra she sang from 1938 to 1941. Krupa and Daye recorded 63 titles together, with her biggest hit being "Drum Boogie", which was recorded in the last session she did with Krupa. She also sang this song in the film Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire

Ball of Fire is a 1941 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Hawks, and starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. The RKO Pictures film is about a group of professors laboring to write an encyclopedia and their encounter with a nightclub performer who provides her own unique knowledge...

, though on-screen the tune was lip-synched by Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck

Barbara Stanwyck was an American actress. She was a film and television star, known during her 60-year career as a consummate and versatile professional with a strong screen presence, and a favorite of directors including Cecil B. DeMille, Fritz Lang and Frank Capra...

.

After leaving Krupa, Daye retired from music at the age of 23, marrying Corky Cornelius

Corky Cornelius

Edward "Corky" Cornelius was an American jazz trumpeter.Cornelius's father was a drummer who worked regionally in dance bands in Texas. He was born in Indiana and raised in Binghamton, New York, and began his career in the early 1930s, played with Les Brown, Frank Dailey, and Buddy Rogers...

. Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day was an American jazz singer.Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer"...

 took her spot in Krupa's orchestra. Daye had a daughter in 1943, but Cornelius (then in the Casa Loma Orchestra

Casa Loma Orchestra

The Casa Loma Orchestra was a popular American dance band active from 1927 to 1963. From 1929 until the rapid multiplication in the number of swing bands from 1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra was one of the top North American dance bands...

) died suddenly later that year, after which she returned to her singing career.

Marriage and death

From 1944 to 1950 she sang with Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak

Charlie Spivak was an American trumpeter and bandleader, best known for his big band in the 1940s.-Biography:...

, then married him in 1950 and retired from performance, working as her husband's manager until her death in 1971 at age 53 from cancer, in Greenville, South Carolina.