Dinah Shore (1916-1994) was the first singer in the 1940s to achieve huge solo success.  She had 80 charted popular hits, as well as appearing in a handful of movies, and hosting variety and  music television shows spanning four decades.

Born to Immigrant parents from Russia, Frances Rose Shore's professional debut was as a torch singer at age 14.  After one performance her parents put a stop to that!  After graduating from Vanderbilt University, she auditioned, singing the popular song "Dinah."  When a disc jockey could not remember her name, he called her the "Dinah girl," and soon after the name stuck, becoming her stage name.  The rest, they say, is history.