US Jazz singer Kay Starr passes away at 94

American pop and jazz icon Kay Starr has passed away. She was 94.The songstress died of Alzheimer’s disease-related complications at her Bel Air home on Thursday, reported Contactmusic. Starr began singing as a young child for a Dallas, Texas radio station after winning a local talent contest and went on to work with violinist Joe Venuti’s orchestra at the age of 15. She got her first hit with “You Were Only Foolin” and

went on to record hits like “So Tired,” “Hoop De Doo,” “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” “Rock n’ Roll Waltz,” and “Wheel of Fortune”.

She had a successful stint on the country charts as well with her collaborations with Tennessee Ernie Ford in the early 1950s.

Starr continued to record and tour into the 1990s, and in 2001 recorded a duet with Tony Bennett for his album “Playin’ With My Friends: Bennett Sings the Blues”.

Late jazz and blues legend Billie Holiday had famously called Starr “the only white woman who could sing the blues.”