Kathie Kay (20 November 1918 – 9 March 2005) was a singer from

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, known for her radio and television appearances in the ''

Billy Cotton Band Show The ''Billy Cotton Band Show'' was a Sunday lunchtime radio programme broadcast in the BBC Light Programme from 1949 until 1968. The band leader, Billy Cotton, was a larger-than-life Cockney character who started each show with the cry "Wakey-Wa ...

'' during the 1950s and 1960s. Her best known recordings are "We Will Make Love" and "A House With Love in It".

Biography

Kathie Kay was born Kathleen Thornhill in

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

, Lincolnshire. She began her career as a tot with the famous Corona Babes Stage School as Connie Wood, then moved on to appear with

Hughie Green Hugh Hughes Green (2 February 1920 – 3 May 1997) was an English radio and television presenter, game show host and actor. Early life Green was born in Marylebone, London, to a Scottish father, Hugh Aitchison Green, a former British Army offic ...

as head girl in his gang show; he was later best man at her wedding. She was spotted by

Billy Cotton William Edward Cotton (6 May 1899 – 25 March 1969) as Billy Cotton was an English band leader and entertainer, one of the few whose orchestras survived the British dance band era. Cotton is now mainly remembered as a 1950s and 1960s radio a ...

, and first performed with him on radio in 1949, making the move to television and remaining until the show ended in 1968. She also worked with

Harry Lauder Sir Henry Lauder (; 4 August 1870 – 26 February 1950)Russell, Dave"Lauder, Sir Henry (1870–1950)" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, online edition, January 2011, accessed 27 April 2014 was a S ...

and

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

.Thedeadrockstarsclub.com
– accessed February 2011 For many years she presented her own programme on

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

, where she was dubbed 'the Fireside Girl'. She was married to the Scottish impresario Archie McCulloch, who died in September 1997. She died from Alzheimer's disease, in

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

, Scotland, at the age of 86, and was survived by three sons: Stewart McCulloch OBE, Donald McCulloch and Ken McCulloch.

References

External links

* 1918 births 2005 deaths Billy Cotton Band Show Deaths from dementia in Scotland Deaths from Alzheimer's disease 20th-century Scottish women singers {{UK-tv-bio-stub