Froman, Jane (1907–1980)

American band singer of the 1930s and 1940s. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 10, 1907; died at her home in Columbia, Missouri, on April 22, 1980; attended the University of Missouri and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music; married twice; no children.

Selected discography:

singles: "Lost in a Fog"/ "My Melancholy Baby" (De 180); "I Only Have Eyes for You"/ "A New Moon Is Over My Shoulder" (De 181); "But Where are You?"/ "Please Believe Me" (De 710); "If You Love Me"/ "It's Great to Be in Love Again" (De 725); "Tonight We Love"/ "What Love Done to Me" (Co 36314); "Baby Mine"/ "When I See an Elephant Fly" (Co 36460); "You, So It's You"/ "Linger in My Arms a Little Longer, Baby" (Maj 1048); "I Got Lost in His Arms"/ "Millionaires Don't Whistle" (Maj 1049); "For You, for Me, for Ever-more"/ "A Garden in the Rain" (Maj 1086); "The Man I Love" (Vi [12"] 12333); "I'll Walk Alone"/ "With a Song in My Heart" (Cap 2154); "Wish You Were Here"/ "Mine" (Cap 2154); "My Love, My Life"/ "No!" (Cap 2219); "My Shining Hour"/ "If I Love You a Mountain" (Cap 2496); "Robe of Calvary"/ "The Sound of Love" (Cap 2639); "I Solemnly Swear"/ "Backward, Turn Backward." Movie sound-track: With a Song in My Heart (Cap T-309).

Jane Froman was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on November 10, 1907. Formally trained, with a strong melodious voice and excellent phrasing, she started her career on the radio in Cincinnati and with Paul Whiteman in Chicago. By the mid-1930s, she had established herself in New York, with successful radio and club appearances as well as recordings (notably, "I Only Have Eyes For You"). On Broadway, she appeared in Ziegfeld Follies of 1934, Keep off the Grass (1940), and the vaudeville show Laugh, Town, Laugh (1942) with Ed Wynn. Her early movie musicals included Movie Stars Over Broadway (1935) and Radio City Revels (1938). In February 1943, while on tour entertaining troops during World War II, Froman was seriously injured in a plane crash off the coast of Portugal. She would undergo numerous operations for her badly damaged legs throughout her life. Froman returned to Broadway in 1943 in Artists and Models (which closed after 28 performances) and played New York's Copacabana in 1945. Her career then slumped until the 1950s, when she reappeared on the television show "USA Canteen" and also had some solid hit recordings, including "I'll Walk Alone," from the movie Follow The Boys (1944). Susan Hayward portrayed Froman in With a Song in My Heart, the 1952 movie about the singer's life; Froman dubbed the soundtrack.