Nan Wynn

Nan Wynn, born Marsha Vatz (May 8, 1915 - March 21, 1971) was an American big-band singer, and Broadway and film actress. She sang and recorded throughout the 1930s and 1940s with the Emery Deutsch, Rudy Vallee, Eddie Duchin, Richard Himber, Hal Kemp, Hudson-DeLange, Raymond Scott, Teddy Wilson and Freddie Rich orchestras. Wynn was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, where she attended high school, and sang in the school choir.

Career

Wynn's father owned a department store in Wheeling, and traveled often to New York. At the age of sixteen, while spending a weekend in New York City with her mother, her singing came to the attention of a retired producer who was guesting at the same establishment. He booked Wynn at a Peekskill vaudeville house, the owner of which engaged her to sing at his two other properties in Kingston, NY and Newburgh, NY.

After working the vaudeville circuit, the late 1930s saw Wynn landing at radio station WNEW in New York for a thirteen show per week stint and honing her talent under the mentorship of Jimmy Rich, the singing coach to Dinah Shore, Bea Wain, and Barry Wood, among others. Radio show stints followed with Rudy Vallee's orchestra, and with Hal Kemp's orchestra on his "Time to Shine" radio show.