She is best known for her 1954 solo recording '"Little Things Mean a Lot" — a song that stayed at the U.S. number one spot for nine consecutive weeks, charted in the U.S. for almost seven months, hit #1 on the UK singles chart, and sold more than two million copies. AllMusic called the recording a "monster hit", music historian Jonny Whiteside said the song "ably characterizes Kallen’s impressive, and graceful, transition from classic big band swing to modern post-war pop".
Voted "most popular female singer" in 1954 in both Billboard and Variety polls, Kallen lost her voice at the Palladium in 1955 at the top of her career and left singing for four years, suffering paralyzed vocal cords. After testing her voice under a pseudonym in small town venues, she ultimately returned and went on to achieve 13 top-ten career hits.
Kallen performed at numerous prominent live venues including Manhattan's Copacabana, Morris Levy's Versailles, the Capitol Theater, the Maisonette Room at the St. Regis, the Cafe Rouge at the Hotel Pennsylvania and the Plaza Hotel's Persian Room. As well, she starred on Broadway in Finian's Rainbow; in the 1955 film The Second Greatest Sex and on numerous television shows including The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Big Beat with singer-host Richard Hayes, American Bandstand, and Fred Allen's Judge for Yourself. In 1951, Kallen appeared with Buster Crabbe as the Queen and King of Winter at the Lake Placid resort.
During the height of her popularity, three imposters billed themselves as "Kitty Kallen". When one of them — Genevieve Agostinello — died in 1978, it was incorrectly reported that Kallen herself had died. On February 8, 1960, Kallen received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard at #7021), and in 2009 she was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
Some sources give Kallen's birth name as Katherine Kalinsky, but according to records cited by her son, the name was Katie Kallen. She was born May 25, 1921, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, one of seven children, to Russian Jewish immigrants Samuel and Rose Kalinsky (later Kallen). As a child, she won an amateur contest by imitating popular singers. When she returned home with her prize, a camera, her father did not believe her, and punished her for stealing the camera. Only when neighbors subsequently visited to congratulate her, did Kallen's father realize she had actually won it.
While performing with Jack Teagarden's band, she married Clint Garvin, the band's clarinet player. When Teagarden fired Garvin, Kallen left as well, later annulling the marriage. In 1948, Kallen married Bernard "Budd" Granoff, a publicist, agent, and television producer. He later became a pioneering television syndicator. The couple, married for over forty-five years until Granoff's death in 1996, had a son, Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute and Adjunct Professor of International Law at Widener University School of Law.
In 1977, Kallen sued her dermatologist, Norman Orentreich, after he prescribed an estrogen drug, Premarin, for her small facial wrinkles. She subsequently suffered blood clots in her lungs, caused directly by the drug, and won $300,000 by the court's decision.
In 2008, Kallen joined artists Patti Page, Tony Martin, Dick Hyman, Richard Hayman and the estates of Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Sarah Vaughan, Woody Herman, Les Brown, the Mills Brothers, Jerry Murad, Frankie Laine, and the gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe in a suit against the world's then largest music label, Universal Music Group, alleging the company had cheated them on royalties.
Kallen died on January 7, 2016 at her home in Cuernavaca, Mexico at the age of 94.
As a young girl Kallen sang on The Children's Hour, a radio program sponsored by Horn & Hardart, an automat chain. As a pre-teen, Kallen had a radio program on Philadelphia's WCAU, and sang with the big bands of Jan Savitt in 1936, Artie Shaw in 1938, and Jack Teagarden in 1940.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, on May 5, 1942, she sang the vocals for "Moonlight Becomes You" with Bobby Sherwood and His Orchestra at the second every session for what was then still called Liberty Records but would soon be renamed Capitol Records. It was her only session for the label.
Just 21, she joined the Jimmy Dorsey band, replacing Helen O'Connell. In every theater of World War II, a favorite of American servicemen, "They're Either Too Young or Too Old". In 1944, Kallen performed the vocals for Dorsey's number-one hit "Besame Mucho". Most of her singing assignments were in duets with Bob Eberly, and when Eberly left to go into the service toward the end of 1943, she joined Harry James' band.
Between January and November 1945, Kitty Kallen had two songs recorded with the Harry James Orchestra in the top twenty, six in the top ten, and two at the #1 spot—"I'm Beginning to See the Light" and "It's Been a Long, Long Time", which remains deeply associated with the end of World War II and the returning troops.
With the 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot", Kallen was voted most popular female singer in Billboard and Variety polls. She followed up this song with "Chapel in the Moonlight", another million selling record, and a version of "True Love" for Decca. In 1959, she recorded "If I Give My Heart to You" for Columbia Records, and in 1963, she recorded a top-selling version of "My Coloring Book" for RCA. Her final album was Quiet Nights, a bossa nova–flavored release for 20th Century Fox Records. Subsequently, Kallen retired due to a lung ailment.
A compilation of her hits on various labels remains available on the Sony CD set The Kitty Kallen Story.
Where or When
Kitty Kallen Lyrics
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We looked at each other in the same way then
But I can't remember where or when
The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore
The smile you are smiling you were smiling then
But I can't remember where or when
Seem to be happening again
And so it seems that we have met before
And laughed before, and loved before
But who knows where or when
The lyrics of Kitty Kallen's song "Where or When" capture a sense of familiarity and déjà vu that the singer experiences in connection with someone they are currently interacting with. The line "It seems we stood and talked like this before" suggests that the singer feels a strong sense of having been in a similar situation with the other person in the past, even though they cannot pinpoint exactly when or where it may have occurred. This sentiment is further emphasized by the repetition of the phrase "But I can't remember where or when," highlighting the elusive nature of memory and recollection.
The mention of the clothes and smile that the person is currently wearing and displaying, which the singer recalls them having worn and displayed before, reinforces the idea of a recurring pattern or a sense of timelessness in their interactions. The use of the word "then" in relation to both the clothes and the smile creates a temporal link between the past and the present, blurring the boundaries between the two and reinforcing the theme of continuity and familiarity.
The singer's contemplation of how "Some things that happened for the first time / Seem to be happening again" introduces a layer of mystery and introspection into the lyrics. This reflection on the cyclical nature of experiences and emotions suggests a deep connection or bond that transcends time and space, hinting at the possibility of shared experiences beyond the present moment.
In the final stanza, the lyrics culminate in a wistful acknowledgment of a shared history of laughter and love that the singer feels they have experienced with the other person before. The repetition of the phrase "But who knows where or when" underscores the unknowable aspect of their connection and hints at the enchanting ambiguity of love and memory. Overall, the lyrics of "Where or When" evoke a sense of nostalgia, longing, and the enduring power of human connections that defy the constraints of time and memory.
Line by Line Meaning
It seems we stood and talked like this before
It feels like we have had this conversation before
We looked at each other in the same way then
Our gazes were just as intense in the past
But I can't remember where or when
I can't recall the exact moment we shared
The clothes you're wearing are the clothes you wore
You are dressed the same as you were before
The smile you are smiling you were smiling then
Your smile today is just as radiant as before
But I can't remember where or when
I still can't pinpoint when we first met
Some things that happened for the first time
Events that felt new have a sense of familiarity
Seem to be happening again
It's like history is repeating itself
And so it seems that we have met before
It appears we have crossed paths in the past
And laughed before, and loved before
We have shared moments of joy and affection previously
But who knows where or when
The exact time and place are a mystery
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind