Molly Bee
| Molly Bee | |
|---|---|
Molly Bee and Rusty Draper as hosts of the television program Swingin' Country
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Mollie Gene Beachboard |
| Born |
August 18, 1939 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 2009 (aged 69) Oceanside, California, U.S. |
| Genres | country, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, television personality |
| Instruments | vocals |
Molly Bee (August 18, 1939 – February 7, 2009), born Mollie Gene Beachboard, was an American country music singer famous for her 1952 recording of the early perennial, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", and as Pinky Lee's sidekick on The Pinky Lee Show.
Bee was also well known in the 1950s in Los Angeles, California as a regular on Hometown Jamboree, a local television program featuring Tennessee Ernie Ford, later the host of NBC's The Ford Show. She also appeared several times on The Ford Show during its five-year run (1956–1961).
Bee, who was part Native American, was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on August 18, 1939, and raised in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, until she and her family moved to Tucson, Arizona sometime in the 1940s. In Arizona, she was discovered by "singing cowboy" Rex Allen, a disc jockey in Tucson, when he heard her singing. Allen was impressed with Bee's voice, and had the ten-year-old sing "Lovesick Blues" on his popular radio show.
In 1950, when Bee was 11, the Beachboard family moved to the Los Angeles area. She became a regular on Hometown Jamboree during the next two years, a KTLA-TV program produced at the American Legion Stadium in El Monte, California. It was later moved to the then-famous Harmony Park Ballroom in Anaheim, California.
The Saturday night stage show was hosted and produced by Cliffie Stone, who helped popularize country music in California. While in her teens, Bee sang on the Jamboree, and gathered a large fan following. She was so popular, the program was sometimes referred to as "The "Molly Bee Show." The program gave a big break to many young singers, including Tommy Sands, who became a teen idol and dated Bee in the 1950s. When she was 13, Bee signed on with Capitol Records and had her first major recording success with "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", in 1952. She attended Rosemead High School and graduated from Hollywood High School.
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