Mary Small
American singer
Died when: 84 years 295 days (1017 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Mary Small (May 10, 1922 – February 27, 2007) was a prominent singing personality during the Golden Age of Radio and hosted her own broadcasts for 14 consecutive years across all major networks.
She headlined or opened at "presentation houses" from the 1930s through the 1950s including the Paramount Theater, Madison Square Garden, the London Palladium, the Copacabana with Sammy Davis, Jr., and the Palace Theater in Chicago.
In addition to being an established recording artist, she was a published author and performed on film, television and Broadway during her career.
She was the first singer to be widely promoted as The Little Girl With The Big Voice, a moniker likely adopted by her first manager Ed Wolfe that was marketed in the Fleischer Brothers' Love Thy Neighbor, distributed by Paramount Pictures in 1934.
The moniker "Little Girl With The Big Voice" was subsequently used to promote female singing prodigies from Judy Garland to Jackie Evancho.
She was married for a time to the composer Vic Mizzy with whom she had a widely publicized divorce.Her life is the subject of a documentary by Rafael Moscatel.
