The Boswell Sisters
Before The Andrew Sisters, before The McGuire Sisters and before The Pointer sisters, there was The Boswell sisters who showed those sisters acts to follow how to rock and roll with a boogie beat.
One of the all-time greatest jazz vocal groups, the Boswell Sisters, Martha, Vet and Connee, began their career in the vaudeville houses of New Orleans. Connee, paralyzed from the waist down by a childhood accident (though her disability was often attributed to polio), always performed sitting down.
Gifted musicians as well as singers, the sisters also worked at a local radio station, performing classical and semi-classical instrumentals. (Martha played piano, Vet played violin, banjo and guitar, and Connee played cello, saxophone and guitar.) Their careers took off when the radio station gave them a daily singing program. (more)