Ruth Etting Biography

Fast Facts

• Her versions of "Ten Cents a Dance" and "Love Me or Leave Me" were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 and 2005, respectively
• Was discovered by a Columbia Records executive in 1926 and moved to New York the following year, where she joined the Ziegfeld Follies
• Made her screen acting debut in the short film "Blue Songs" in 1929
• Originally moved to Chicago to attend art school and got her first job as a costume designer for the Marigold Gardens night club, where she would later join the chorus line
• Her marriage to Chicago gangster Moe Snyder ended in scandal when, after she tried to leave him for her accompanist, Myrl Alderman, Snyder shot Alderman in a rage
• Best known as a singer who became "America's Sweetheart of Song" with hits like "Ten Cents a Dance" and "Love Me or Leave Me․"
• Appeared in the very last Ziegfeld Follies performance in 1931, just before Flo Ziegfeld's death
• Was portrayed by Doris Day in the bio-pic about her life, "Love Me or Leave Me," in 1955