CINCINNATI

Among the long list of famous Cincinnatians, Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff is near the top.  She was born on April 3, 1922 and lived in the Evanston suburb of Cincinnati.  Both sets of grandparents were German immigrants.  Her father was a music teacher and church organist; her mother a housekeeper.  Her parents separated when she was 12 and she moved with her mother and brother to the College Hill suburb.  They lived in an apartment atop her uncle's bar.

Miss von Kappelhoff was sent to dance lessons at an early age and it became her dream to dance on stage. She actually won cash prizes dancing with a partner when she was 14.  Her dreams were dashed at 15 when she hurt her leg in an auto accident.  During her recuperation, she took to singing.  She had access to all the top current hit songs on her uncle's juke box in the bar.  Her mother hired a voice teacher and she became quite good.

She auditioned as a singer at Cincinnati radio station WLW and got some work there as a vocalist. She also got some local gigs singing in restaurants.    She was hired as lead vocalist with the Barney Rapp Band when his wife Ruby, their regular, became pregnant.  Barney convinced Miss von Kappelhoff to change her name to Doris Day.  She eventually moved on to the Les Brown Band of Renown and recorded "Sentimental Journey" which became a big hit in 1945.  She became a regular on Bob Hope's radio show.  It was a short step into the movie business.

Doris Day became one of the top singers and movie actresses in the world in the 1950s and 1960s. Her list of successful record albums and hit movies is enormous.  She even had a hit TV sitcom; The Doris Day Show, from 1968 through 1973,

In 2011, at the age of 89, Day released her last record album, a compilation of previously un-released songs.  Since the 1970s, she had dedicated her life to animal welfare.  Doris just turned 95.
😍