The Kim Sisters
(L to R: Mia, Aija, Sue)
The Kim Sisters[1][2] were a South Korean-born American female trio who made their career in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. The group consisted of two sisters, Sue (Sook-ja) and Aija (Ai-ja), and their cousin Mia (Minja) Kim.[3] Sue and Aija were two of seven children of Kim Hae-song, a popular music conductor, and Lee Nan-young, one of Korea's most famous singers before the Korean War, perhaps best known for "the Tears of Mokpo." Mia's father was Lee Bong-ryong, a musician as well and was Lee Nan-young's elder brother.
The sisters arrived in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1959 and first performed at the Thunderbird Hotel, where producer Tom Ball did a show with Asian artists. Their successful performances at the Thunderbird led them to the Stardust, where Ed Sullivan saw the trio and invited the sisters to perform on his popular television show. The sisters performed on The Ed Sullivan Show more than 22 times.
History
Starting in 1953, with the encouragement of their mother and aunt, and to support their family after they lost everything during a bombing, the sisters sang Hoagy Carmichael's Country-Western tune "Ole Buttermilk Sky" and "Candy and Coke" to U.S. troops, who would donate rock and roll records for the sisters to memorize. South Korea was impoverished at the time, and the sisters received chocolate bars and beer for their performances, which they then exchanged for nutritious food. GIs who returned to the States spread word about the talented trio. In Los Angeles, producer Ball heard about the talented youngsters from one of the returning GIs. Ball went to South Korea to see the sisters and secured a contract through the Kims' mother. He became their manager.
Before the sisters departed South Korea, their mother advised them to learn to play instruments. They arrived in Los Angeles and drove to Las Vegas and lived in a one bedroom apartment across from the Sahara Hotel. After they fulfilled their contract at the Thunderbird, the entertainment director for the Stardust Hotel picked up their option. In their eighth month at the Stardust, Ed Sullivan saw the sisters perform and requested that they appear on his show.
For years after arriving in America, the sisters kept trying unsuccessfully to obtain a visa for their mother to travel to the U.S. With the help of Sullivan, who knew of their mother's fame in South Korea, Lee Nan-young was finally able to come to the U.S. One condition of Sullivan's assistance in obtaining the visa for the sisters' mother was that she, too, appear on his show. In 1967, all three girls were married, Mia to Tommy Vig, a Hungarian-born music prodigy and jazz percussionist. He played in the same hotel as the girls. The trio broke up when Mia moved to Los Angeles with her husband and became a full-time mother. Ai-ja and Sook-ja continued performing with their brothers in the group The Kim Brothers. Ai-ja died in 1987 from lung cancer; Mia moved to Budapest in 2006.
References
- ^ University of Nevada, Las Vegas article: The Kim Sisters
- ^ David Teszar. "From Seoul to Las Vegas: story of the Kim Sisters". Retrieved 4 January 2015.
- ^ Korea Pop Wars article 10/19/07
External links
- Kim Sisters perform in the movie "Hyperbola of Youth" (청춘쌍곡선 / 靑春雙曲線 - Cheongchun ssanggogseon) directed by Han Hyung-mo 1956 Korea
- Kim Sisters Live Performance (1957)