KAY ARMEN
Singer • Radio & TV Pioneer
Kay Armen
Born Armenuhi Manoogian, she became one of the most heard voices in America — a golden-age radio and television star who carried the name Armen onto every marquee.
Born Armenuhi Manoogian, she became one of the most heard voices in America — a golden-age radio and television star who carried the name Armen onto every marquee.
Kay Armen (1915–2011), born Armenuhi Manoogian in Chicago, was one of the most popular American singers of the 1940s and 50s — a radio and television star whose warm, powerful voice made her a household name in the golden age of broadcasting.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants (her father a professional wrestler known as 'Armen the Terrible'), she rose through Nashville and New York radio to headline NBC's Hit Parade era programming, becoming one of the era's busiest vocalists with thousands of broadcasts to her name.
Hollywood followed: she appeared in MGM's Hit the Deck (1955), sang the beloved standard repertoire in nightclubs and on television for decades, and co-wrote and recorded songs of her own. Proudly Armenian her whole career, she remained a fixture of Armenian-American community life until her death at 95.
Before Cher, before Sirusho — the first Armenian name millions of Americans heard sing was Kay Armen.
— On a broadcasting pioneerKay Armen was the first Armenian-American woman to become a national singing star — the trail Cher would later blaze ran through ground Kay Armen cleared first. She died in 2011, one of the last voices of radio's golden age.
Discover the culture, history, and community behind figures like Kay Armen.
Heritage Month Explore Armenian Culture