- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMary Ka'aihue
- Nicknames
- First Lady of Rock and Roll
- The First Lady of Rock and Roll
- Mary Kaye started using the term "Lounge" in her act when her music group, The Mary Kaye Trio, played at bars and clubs. The word "lounge" caught on and spread throughout Las Vegas nightclubs and eventually throughout the United States. She took the term from "Lounge Car" that was being used by railroads.- IMDb mini biography by: Kenneth Kwilinski
- SpousePursley, Jules(1946 - ?) (3 children)
- Known for the Fender Mary Kaye Stratocaster guitar named after her.
- She was the first person to ever have a guitar named after her the Fender Mary Kaye Stratocaster.
- She was a Hawaiian guitarist and singer who had her own trio; the other musicians were her older brother Norman Kaye and Frank Ross. They began playing at Las Vegas' Frontier casino-hotel in the 1950s. They recorded 13 albums, and played on four movie soundtracks.
- She and her brother originally played in their father's band. He was known as Johnny Ukulele. Musical differences split her from the group and she formed her first trio which included husband and bass player Jules Pursley.
- Released a dozen albums before the group broke up in 1966. Mary continued solo.
- Mary played guitar; brother Norman was on bass; and Frank Ross was the group's comedian and sometime accordionist.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content