Here's what I found out about the Modernaires at this website:
http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/glennmiller.html
Hal Dickinson, lead, died in November, 1970, at age 59.
Chuck Goldstein, baritone, died in August 1973, at age 58.
Ralph Brewster, tenor, died on March 29, 1990, at age 76.
Bill Conway, bass & vocal arranger, died on April 4, 1991, at age 77.
These are the four original Modernaires (in fact they were billed on Miller record labels as the Four Modernaires). Dickinson, Goldstein, and Conway were high school buddies from Buffalo, NY, who moved to the Big Apple in 1935 and invited Brewster to join the group in 1937. They joined Paul Whiteman's orchestra in 1938 and Miller's orchestra in 1940 or '41.
Dickinson, Goldstein, Conway & Brewster provided vocals on dozens of Miller classics between 1941 and 1942.
In 1941, Glenn Miller hired Dickinson's wife Paula Kelly as a substitute vocalist for pregnant Marion Hutton. It's Paula, not Marion, who can be heard on the Miller classics "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and "I Know Why," but she didn't officially join the group (as the "fifth Modernaire") until late 1942 --- after Miller's orchestra broke up and the Modernaires struck out on their own.
At about the same time Paula Kelly joined the group, Goldstein & Conway dropped out (but they didn't quit together--?!) and were both replaced. Dickinson, Brewster, Kelly and the new members continued singing as "The Modernaires" for many years thereafter.
Paula Kelly died on April 2, 1992, at age 72. As for Miller's other main vocalists:
Ray Eberle died on August 25, 1979, at age 60.
Marion Hutton died on January 10, 1987, at age 67.
Tex Beneke died on May 30, 2000, at age 86
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