Jean Adair Swain was born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and grew up in Port Washington

Port Washington

Port Washington is the name of some places in the United States of America:*Port Washington, New York*Port Washington, Ohio*Port Washington, Wisconsin, a city*Port Washington , Wisconsin, a town...

, Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, where she graduated from high school at age 16. Her musical talents included playing the cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 in orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

s and chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

 groups, arranging, composing and teaching. She was also an accomplished pianist.

She received her degree in music at Smith College

Smith College

Smith College is a private, independent women's liberal arts college located in Northampton, Massachusetts. It is the largest member of the Seven Sisters...

 (1945) where she was a founding member and arranger for the "Smithereens,"a singing group now a campus tradition.

In 1946 she and her sister, Nancy Swain Overton

Nancy Overton

Nancy Swain Overton was an American singer.Overton first formed a singing group with her sister Jean Swain and two college friends, Bix Brent and Pauli Skindlov in 1946...

, founded a vocal quartet The Heathertones

The Heathertones

The Heathertones vocal quartet took form in 1946 with members Nancy Swain Overton, her sister Jean Swain, Bix Brent and Pauli Skindlov. Jean and Bix were both graduates of Smith College, while Nancy and Pauli had completed their studies at Juilliard...

 with Bix Brent

Bix Brent

Bix Brent was a founding member of The Heathertones who sang on many recordings in the early 1950s...

 and Pauli Skindlov (later replaced by Marianne McCormick).

After The Heathertones broke up, Jean pursued a career in documentary film production with Robert Drew

Robert Drew

Robert Lincoln Drew is an American documentary filmmaker known as a pioneer of cinéma vérité, or direct cinema, in the United States....

 where she was involved with filming of Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin

Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...

, Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

 and the opening of the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 at Lincoln Center.

In 1988, she joined her sister in a re-formed Chordettes of "Mr. Sandman" fame. Lynn Evans was an original member of that group and Nancy had sung with them for four years. Completing the foursome was Doris Alberti, a long-time barbershop music

Barbershop music

Barbershop vocal harmony, as codified during the barbershop revival era , is a style of a cappella, or unaccompanied vocal music characterized by consonant four-part chords for every melody note in a predominantly homophonic texture...

 singer. They performed at Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...

, the Nassau Coliseum and toured with Eddy Arnold

Eddy Arnold

Richard Edward Arnold , known professionally as Eddy Arnold, was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the Billboard country music charts, second only to George Jones. He sold more...

. In 1997 the group disbanded and Jean returned to her first love—playing cello in chamber groups and orchestras.

Information from interviews with Nancy Overton.