Say It With A Kiss

Maxine Sullivan was born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania on 13th May, 1911. She came from a family with a strong musical background but did not have any formal musical training, being basically self taught. Showing promise as a singer at an early age, Maxine gained her first professional exposure at the Benjamin Harrison Literary club in Pittsburgh, where she worked with a piano player named Jenny Dillard. She was heard there by Gladys Mosier, pianist with the all girl Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears, who invited Maxine to look her up in New York.