Ruth Olay

Initially a piano prodigy, her interest in music developed from exposure to her mother's professional chorus singing work. At age 16 or 17, working as secretary at Twentieth Century Fox, Olay undertook singing lessons with vocal coach Florence Russell (Dorothy Dandridge). While at work, she met one of Duke Ellington's vocalists, Ivie Anderson. Together they attended the venue where Ellington was playing and Olay was persuaded to sing. In 1942, at her mother's re-marriage party she sang and impressed a guest