Jane Froman

American singer and actress. Born November 10, 1907, University City, Missouri, USA. Died April 22, 1980, Columbia, Missouri, USA. During her thirty-year career, Froman performed on stage, radio and TV despite chronic injuries that she sustained from a 1943 plane crash. The 1952 film, [i]With a Song in My Heart[/i], is based on her life. Froman wanted to be a journalist when she was young. She graduated from the Unviersity fo Missouri in 1928 with an A. B. in Music and a B.S. in Journalism. While in college, Froman was active musical shows. She sang in the glee club and the university setext. Her first professional job was singing with the an orchestra in the Grand Central theatre, St. Louis, ending her journalistic ambitions. Her first radio opportunity came in Cincinnati follwing a party in the home of Powell Crosley, Jr., who heard her sing and suggested she join the WLW staff. It was there Paul Whiteman heard her and induced her to go to the NBC Chicago studios where she made an instant hit on network programs, leading her to become one of radio's most popular singers of the time.