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Doris Day music biography continued...

Ohio, Day first wanted to become a dancer, but took up singing while recovering from a car accident. Soon she began to take lessons, and at the age of 17 began performing locally. It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp in 1939 or 1940 that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was Day After Day, and her stage name was taken from that. After working with Rapp, Day worked with a number of other bandleaders including Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey," which was released in early 1945. It soon became a popular anthem of the desire for the troops serving in World War II. This song is still associated with Day, and was re-recorded by her on several occasions, as well as being included in her 1971 television special. During her time with Les Brown, and a brief stint with Bob Hope, Day toured extensively across the United States and became one of the U.S.'s most well-known and beloved entertainers.



Day's popularity as a radio performer and vocalist, including a second hit record My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time, led her to a film role in Romance on the High Seas, which provided her with another hit recording-- It's Magic. Her breakout role in terms of acting and singing was in 1953's Calamity Jane, which led to the Oscar for Best Original Song for Secret Love. In 1956, Day once again one the Academy Award for Best Song with Que Sera, Sera, which she sang in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much. With the advent of Elvis Presley and rock and roll in the late 1950s, Day's popularity as a singing star began to wane. She would go to record even greater successes on the silver screen, but she will always be treasured as one of the U.S.'s most adored vocalists.