Connie Haines

This audio only interview was conducted for a radio program by Dan Del Fiorentino and donated to the NAMM Oral History program: Connie Haines was a noted singer during the Big Band Era. When auditioning for an engagement with the Harry James Orchestra, the famed bandleader and trumpeter liked her voice and asked for her name. She said, Yvonne Marie Antoinette James! Harry thought about it for a moment and said, let's call you Connie Haines, it rhymes with James and will look good on the marquis. She began singing at the age of four and was on the radio performing by the age of nine. During the swing era, Connie performed with Harry James and with Tommy Dorsey as well as on the Abbott & Costello radio show throughout World War II. She later recorded as a solo artist for Mercury Records waxing such classics as "If I Had You" and "It’s All Over Now."