The Bell Sisters: Bermuda (Original Demo)

Continuing my focus on artists who died in 2024, today I present a song by The Bell Sisters. Taking their mother’s maiden name, they were an American vocal duo formed by sisters Cynthia and Kay Strother. Cynthia Strother died on February 16, 2024, at the age of 88. Unless you have an extremely deep knowledge of popular music from the pre-rock and roll era of the early ’50s, which I do not, you are like me and have never heard of The Bell Sisters. They enjoyed a short but successful career from 1951-1954, although they were very young during this time. Cynthia was 17 and Kay was 12 when their song “Bermuda” sold one million copies in 1952. Cynthia wrote that song, as well as others, and their career skyrocketed into stage and television performances with artists such as Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Gene Autry, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Martin & Lewis, Mel Torme, and many others. In 1952-53, they performed in the USO show in Korea, making Kay the youngest artist to perform on a USO tour (when she was 13). They also appeared in two Hollywood films in 1953. They released 11 singles in the pre-Billboard era with three Top 20 songs on the Hit Parade. Their true success, however, came after they retired from their professional singing careers as teenagers. Both of them married and raised families. Kay became an elementary school teacher. Cynthia was a swimming instructor for handicapped children and adults. This is my favorite kind of story to discover while researching these posts – two young women who turned their short success into a fulfilling life without being destroyed by the misogynistic music machine that has chewed up and spit out hundreds of other similar female stars.

To learn more about Cynthia Strother and The Bell Sisters, check out their Wikipedia page.

To listen to all of the songs of the day, check out the Radio Faux Show Song of the Day playlist.

• Uncategorized