Pat Friday

Pat Friday (August 4, 1921 -June 21, 2016), was a singer best remembered for her work with Glenn Miller.

Friday was born Helen Patricia Freiday in Jefferson County, Idaho, the daughter of France Everett Freiday and Helen Katherine Abbott.

She was discovered by Bing Crosby when he heard her sing during an amateur night at the Victor Hugo cafe in Hollywood. She was performing there at the urging of her sorority sisters at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was studying home economics.

Friday was a "ghost singer" for Lynn Bari, but was never credited. She sang "I Know Why (And So Do You)", the original vocal version of "At Last", and "Serenade in Blue" in the movies Sun Valley Serenade and Orchestra Wives. She also was heard as a singer on the radio in The Story of G.I. Joe (1945).

Friday was a singer on The Roy Rogers Show, although she did not care for that style of music. She sang on Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall#Radio in the summer of 1939 but left that show to return to college.

While a student at UCLA, Friday was a singer on The Old Gold Don Ameche Show on the NBC Red radio network. A contemporary magazine article noted, "In order to attend rehearsals she has to cut Friday afternoon classes ... but she makes up by spending all the time she can in a corner of the studio, carefully doing her homework." She also sang on the Armed Forces Radio Service programs G.I. Journal and Personal Album.

Friday was a recording artist with Decca Records and Enterprise Records.

On December 28, 1940, Friday married David Berwick Vinson, Jr. in Beverly Wilshire Methodist Church in Los Angeles, California. They had a son and a daughter.

Friday died June 21, 2016, at her home in Fredericksburg, Texas. She was survived by her daughter and two grandsons.