LOS ANGELES -- Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B and the poignant I Can Dream, Can't I? captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94.
Ms. Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.She could also deliver sentimental ballads like I'll Be With You in Apple Blossom Time with a sincerity that caused hardened GIs far from home to weep."When I was a kid, I only had two records and one of them was the Andrews Sisters. They were remarkable. Their sound, so pure," said Bette Midler, who had a hit cover of Bugle Boy in 1973. "Everything they did for our nation was more than we could have asked for. This is the last of the trio, and I hope the trumpets ushering [Patty] into heaven with her sisters are playing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.From the late 1930s through the 1940s, the Andrews Sisters produced one hit record after another, beginning with Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen in 1937 and continuing with Rum and Coca-Cola and more. They recorded more than 400 songs and sold more than 80 million records, several of them going gold.Other sisters, notably the Boswells, had become famous as singing acts, but mostly they huddled before a microphone in close harmony. The Andrews Sisters -- LaVerne, Maxene and Patty -- added a new dimension. During breaks in their singing, they cavorted about the stage in rhythm to the music.The trio continued until LaVerne's death in 1967. They were born and raised in the Minneapolis area.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
