The Andrews Sisters - Setting Records

Setting Records

They recorded 47 songs with crooner Bing Crosby, 23 of which charted on Billboard, thus making the team one of the most successful pairings of acts in a recording studio in show business history. Their million-sellers with Crosby included "Pistol Packin' Mama", "Don't Fence Me In", "South America, Take It Away", and "Jingle Bells", among other yuletide favorites.

The sisters' popularity was such that after the war they discovered some of their records had actually been smuggled into Germany after the labels had been changed to read "Hitler's Marching Songs". Their recording of Bei Mir Bist Du Schön became a favorite of the Nazis, until it was discovered that the song's composers were of Jewish descent. Still, it did not stop concentration camp inmates from secretly singing it, this is most likely since the song was originally a Yiddish song "Bei Mir Bistu Shein", and had been popularized within the Jewish community before it was recorded as a more successful "cover" version by the Andrews sisters.

Along with Bing Crosby, separately and jointly, The Andrews Sisters were among the performers who incorporated ethnic music styles into America's Hit Parade, popularizing or enhancing the popularity of songs with melodies originating in Brazil, Czechoslovakia, France, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Trinidad, many of which their manager chose for them.

The Andrews Sisters became the best-selling female vocal group in the history of popular music, setting records that remain unsurpassed to this day:

• between 75-100 million records sold from a little over 600 recorded tunes
• 113 charted Billboard hits, 46 reaching Top 10 status (more than Elvis Presley or The Beatles)
• 17 Hollywood films (more than any other singing group in motion picture history)
• record-breaking theater and cabaret runs all across America and Europe;
• countless appearances on radio shows from 1935 to 1960 (including their own)
• guest spots on every major television show of the 1950s and 1960s, including those hosted by Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Carson, Joey Bishop, Art Linkletter, and Jimmy Dean.

Early comparative female close harmony trios were the Boswell Sisters, the Pickens Sisters, and the Three X Sisters.