Alyce Clark; Sang in King Sisters Quartet
Alyce King Clarke of the technically accomplished big-band singing group known for nearly six decades as the King Sisters has died. She was 80.
Clarke, who was also featured in the 1960s ABC television program “The King Family,†died Wednesday in Los Angeles of chronic bronchial asthma.
Born in Payson, Utah, Clarke was the fourth of eight children of Pearl and William King Driggs. Her father, a voice teacher and classical musician, trained his children to play various instruments and booked them for appearances around the West as “The Driggs Family of Entertainers.â€
Clarke and two others, Maxine and Louise, spun off into “The Boswell Sisters†to increase the family income during the Depression. When Maxine retired, Donna and Yvonne joined. With another sister, Marilyn, and a friend, they billed themselves as the Six King Sisters and appeared with Horace Heidt’s band in Chicago. Eventually the group jelled into a quartet with Alyce, Donna, Louise and Yvonne known simply as the King Sisters.
They sang on major radio variety programs in the late 1930s and 1940s and, as television evolved, on shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin, as well as their own series.
Clarke is survived by her husband, Robert I. Clarke; three sons, Lex and Ric de Azevedo and Cam Clarke; five sisters, Maxine Thomas, Louise Rey, Donna Conkling, Yvonne Burch and Marilyn King; 11 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Funeral services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 11022 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood, with interment at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
