She started singing professionally with Lionel Hampton's orchestra at the age of 18, and was to change her name to Betty.

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"According to my parents, I started singing before I could really talk, " she said in an interview for the Collected Sounds Web site, which features women in music.

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"I just started going into my room and literally going into my closet and singing into the clothes" so she wouldn't bother her family, she recalls.

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