Vocalist Lily Ann Carol sang with Louis Prima’s orchestra from 1940 to 1946, when she left to begin a solo career. She finished sixth in the category of best female band singer in Down Beat’s 1944 and 1945 polls.
After going solo, Carol played the night club circuit. She recorded with Charlie Ventura’s band on the National label in late 1946 and under her own name on the Signature label in 1950 and Prima’s Robin Hood label in 1951. In 1952, she signed with RCA and in 1954 recorded for the Bruce label. In 1957, she recorded for Mercury. During the 1960s, she worked a nightclub act with husband Joe Barone.
Carol secretly married Morti Kaufman of Newark, New Jersey, on August 5, 1946, while she was in Baltimore performing at the Hippodrome Theater. She did not announce the marriage to the press for three weeks. Kaufman was was not involved in the music business.
