Big-Band Singer Haines Dies In Clearwater At 87

Big band singer Connie Haines, who joined Frank Sinatra in a string of hits with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in the 1940s and continued performing well into her 80s, died Monday in Clearwater, where she had lived the past two decades.

She was 87.

"To be in front of a big band, singing that music, it's such energy, you cannot imagine," she once said in a Tampa Tribune interview.

Haines was a teenager with a power-packed voice when she teamed with Sinatra on "Oh, Look at Me Now," "Snootie Little Cutie" and "You Might Have Belonged to Another" with the Dorsey band in the early 1940s. They had started singing with the Harry James band in 1939.

"We were lifelong friends," said Haines, who sang in a 1995 tribute to Sinatra, who died in 1998.

Born Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais in Savannah, Ga., Haines was performing at age 5. "When Momma found out that I was born with a voice, she lived through me and managed me and did everything," Haines said.

Her mother, Mildred JaMais, survived her talented daughter. The Clearwater resident is 109 years old, said a longtime Haines friend, Roseanne De Marco.

Haines was singing on radio at age 9. At age 12, she was performing in supper clubs in Miami. Her mother took her to New York, where, in 1939, band leader Harry James heard her sing and asked her to audition.

He hired the vivacious 18-year-old and changed her name on the way to an early performance. Frowning at her, he said, "Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais. What are we going to do with that on a marquee? There'd be no room for me." She looked like a Connie to him, and he came up with Haines because it blended with James.

She said after moving from Los Angeles to Clearwater in the late 1980s, she continued to perform more than 40 shows a year at theaters, supper clubs and retirement centers. She loved the area, singing on her answering machine: "I've got the world on a string, sittin' on Clearwater Beach."

She died of myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disease, De Marco said.

"She found joy in every day," said De Marco. "I can't imagine that she didn't because she really loved life."

De Marco said she was amazed at all the things Haines did. "It's like she had nine lives."

During the 1950s, she teamed with singer Beryl Davis and Hollywood stars Jane Russell and Rhonda Fleming in a gospel quartet that had a big hit in 1954, "Do Lord." A religious woman throughout her life, she also performed at a couple of Billy Graham crusades in the 1950s. She later became an ordained minister with the Unity Church.

Haines made some movies, too. Her favorite was "The Duchess of Idaho" in 1950 with Van Johnson. In the mid-1940s, she toured with comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

She also performed for Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Haines said Dorsey taught her and Sinatra how to breath properly so each word could be sounded clearly. "He was like a father to me. I loved him dearly."

Sinatra was fun to sing with because of his penchant for ad-libbing, she said. On their recording of "Let's Get Away From It All," Haines sings, "We'll spend a weekend in Dixie. I'll get a real Southern drawl."

"Another one?" Sinatra quips.

She credits Sinatra with saving her life - literally - at Madison Square Garden. She was about to go onstage when a smoker tossed a match from the balcony and it set her tulle dress on fire. Sinatra threw his coat on her and fell on her, smothering the flames.

Haines was divorced from World War II flying ace Robert DeHaven and from band leader Del Courtney. She had two children by DeHaven, and three grandchildren.

Services are scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at Unity Church of Clearwater 2465 Nursery Road, Clearwater.