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==Career==
As a young girl, she sang on ''[[The Horn & Hardart Children's Hour|The Children's Hour]]'', a radio program sponsored by [[Horn & Hardart]], the legendary [[automat]] chain. As a preteen, Kallen had a radio program on Philadelphia's [[WCAU]] and sang with the big bands of [[Jan Savitt]]<ref name=Interlude/> in 1936, [[Artie Shaw]] in 1938,<ref name=Solid>{{Cite web|url=http://www.parabrisas.com/d_kallenk.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308235503/http://www.parabrisas.com/d_kallenk.html|title=Kitty Kallen|archivedate=March 8, 2005}}</ref> and [[Jack Teagarden]] in 1939. It was with Teagarden's band that Kallen cut her first records, eight sides in total.
Shortly before her 21st birthday, on May 5, 1942, she sang the vocals for "[[Moonlight Becomes You (song)|Moonlight Becomes You]]", with [[Bobby Sherwood]] and His Orchestra at the second ever session for what was then still called Liberty Records but would soon be renamed [[Capitol Records]]. It was her only session for the label.
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At 21, she joined the [[Jimmy Dorsey]] band, replacing [[Helen O'Connell]]. One of her recordings with Dorsey was a favorite of American servicemen: "They're Either Too Young or Too Old" reached the No. 2 position in the Billboard charts in 1944.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Whitburn|first1=Joel|title=Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954|date=1986|publisher=Record Research Inc.|location=Wisconsin, USA|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/132 132]|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/132}}</ref> The same year, Kallen performed the vocals for Dorsey's number-one hit "[[Besame Mucho]]". Most of her singing assignments were in [[duet (music)|duets]] with [[Bob Eberly]], and when Eberly left to go into the service toward the end of 1943, she joined [[Harry James]]'s band.
Between January and November 1945, she had two songs recorded with the Harry James Orchestra in the top twenty, six in the top ten, and two at the No. 1 spot: "[[I'm Beginning to See the Light]]" and "[[It's Been a Long, Long Time]]",<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1633227/m1/#track/4 |title = Pop Chronicles 1940s Program #1|year = 1972}}</ref> which remains deeply associated with the end of World War II and the returning troops.
As a solo performer following the war, Kallen bounced from label to label--a brief stint with Musicraft in 1946 and then three years at Mercury in 1949-51, followed by a stint at Columbia and a reunion with Harry James. Despite covering a number of songs that had been hits for other singers, she still failed to produce a major hit. It was not until signing with Decca in 1953 that she at last enjoyed chart success.
With the 1954 hit "Little Things Mean a Lot", she was voted the most popular female singer in ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' and ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' polls. [[AllMusic]] called the recording a "monster hit",<ref name="allmusic"/> and music historian Jonny Whiteside said the song "ably characterizes Kallen’s impressive, and graceful, transition from classic big band swing to modern post-war pop".<ref name="whiteside">{{cite news|title=Kitty Kallen|work=Los Angeles Times|first=Jonny|last=Whiteside|date=June 24, 2010|url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/kitty-kallen|access-date=August 7, 2015}}</ref> She followed up the song with "[[In the Chapel in the Moonlight]]", another million selling record,<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs"/> in the U.S. and a version of "[[True Love (Cole Porter song)|True Love]]" for [[Decca Records|Decca]].
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Kallen performed at numerous prominent live venues including [[Manhattan]]'s ''[[Copacabana (nightclub)|Copacabana]]'', [[Morris Levy]]'s ''Versailles'', the [[Capitol Theatre (New York City)|Capitol Theater]], the Maisonette Room at the [[The St. Regis Hotel|St. Regis]],<ref name="solo">{{cite news|title=Mr. Pop's Ultimate 1960 Timeline, February|publisher=Mr. Popculture.com|url=http://www.mrpopculture.com/1960}}</ref> the [[Cafe Rouge (Hotel Pennsylvania)|Cafe Rouge]] at the [[Hotel Pennsylvania]] and the [[Plaza Hotel]]'s Persian Room. As well as this, she starred on Broadway in ''[[Finian's Rainbow]]''; in the 1955 film ''[[The Second Greatest Sex]]''<ref name="falsedead"/> and on numerous television shows including ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' with [[Johnny Carson]], ''[[The Big Beat (TV show)|The Big Beat]]'' with singer-host [[Richard Hayes (singer)|Richard Hayes]],<ref name="beat">{{cite news|title=Kitty Kallen Solo Star Now|work=The Pittsburgh Press|date=November 6, 1949|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19491106&id=PTAbAAAAIBAJ&pg=5213,2230336}}</ref> ''[[American Bandstand]]'', and [[Fred Allen]]'s ''[[Judge for Yourself]]''.
In 1956, rock-and-roll was dominating the charts and nosing out most older singers. Kallen experienced a mental breakdown during this time in which she found herself unable to sing live, although she could perform in the studio with no problems. She sought help from a psychiatrist but ended the sessions after he asked her to undress as part of therapy. Kallen's psychological issues and the changing music landscape convinced her to retire from performing, but three years later she decided to make a comeback and signed with Columbia.
In 1959, she recorded "[[If I Give My Heart to You]]" for Columbia Records, and in 1963, she recorded a top-selling version of "[[My Coloring Book]]" for [[RCA Victor]]. Her final [[album]] was ''Quiet Nights'', a [[bossa nova]]–flavored release for [[20th Century Fox Records]]. Subsequently, she retired owing to a lung ailment.▼
▲In 1959, she recorded "[[If I Give My Heart to You]]" for Columbia
During the height of her popularity, three imposters billed themselves as Kitty Kallen. When one of them, Genevieve Agostinello, died in 1978, it was incorrectly reported that Kallen herself had died.<ref name="falsedead">{{cite news|title=Kitty Kallen dead? No, Singer Reports|work=The Free Lance-Star|location=Fredericksburg, Virginia|date=April 21, 1978|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1298&dat=19780421&id=DeZLAAAAIBAJ&pg=5884,2959813}}</ref> On February 8, 1960, Kallen received a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] (located on the north side of Hollywood Boulevard at #7021).<ref name="contest"/>
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