Jane Pickens

Jane Pickens
Jane Pickens circa 1940s to early 1950s
Born	August 10, 1908 Macon, Georgia
Died	February 21, 1992 Newport, Rhode Island
Nationality	American
Other names	Jane Pickens Langley Jane Pickens Hoving
Spouse(s)	William C. Langley Walter Hoving (1977-1989, his death)

Jane Pickens Hoving (10 August 1908 – 21 February 1992) was a popular American singer on Broadway, radio and television for 20 years and later an organizer in numerous philanthropic and society events. She was the musical leader of the Pickens Sisters, a trio born on a Georgia plantation that reached national stardom in the 1930s with its own radio show, concert tours and records.

The Pickens sisters were born in Macon, Georgia, and grew up there and in Atlanta. Beginning when the girls were ages 4, 6 and 8, their parents taught them to harmonize. Their father, a cotton broker, played the piano and their mother sang.

At first the sisters sang for friends, then at churches and schools. The family moved to Park Avenue in Manhattan in 1932, and a test recording for Victor made such an impression with radio executives that they hired the sisters unseen. Promoted as "Three Little Maids From Dixie", they appeared in Thumbs Up on Broadway and in a movie, Sitting Pretty.

Signed to Victor as Victor's answer to the popular Brunswick recording artists, Boswell Sisters, they recorded 25 sides for Victor from early 1932 until late 1934. Their records had a much more novel quality than the harder jazz-styled Boswell Sisters' records. Also, as 1932 Victor records had two- and three-part harmonizers, the Three X Sisters, with experimental sweet/swingy tunes. These three groups were the most noted harmonizers of their day.

The Pickens group earned $1 million in five years but dissolved when two sisters left to get married and a fourth, who was the group's manager, also departed.

Of the sisters Jane Pickens, who arranged the group's numbers, was the most serious about music. She studied at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Fontainebleau in France and won fellowships at the Juilliard School where she studied with Anna E. Schoen-René. Several times she dropped out of public appearances to resume formal training.