Lipstick on the Mic: The Andrews Sisters

 

Maxene, Patty, and Laverne - putting the woo in boogie-woogie

Drama from The Spice Girls? Tabloid fodder about Blackpink? People still sore that Beyonce split from Destiny's Child?

Girls, please: in-band drama isn't anything new, take it from The Andrews Sisters.

Laverne, Maxene, and Patty got their start in vaudeville and became successful during the Big Band era, performing their mix of pop, swing, and jazz but also introducing audiences to jump blues and calypso. They had huge hits with Bei Mir Bist Du Schön, Beer Barrel Polka, Beat Me Daddy (Eight to the Bar), Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me), Rum and Coca-Cola, and of course their biggest hit, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy. Their style and energy are influential to this day, and can be seen generationally from the likes of Bette Midler, Christina Aguilera, and Sabrina Carpenter.

They were the most popular female vocal group of the first half of the 20th century. Some notable achievements, from wiki:

• 100 million records sold;
• 113 Billboard hits, including 46 top-10 hits;
• 17 Hollywood films;
• Record-breaking theater and cabaret runs across North America and Europe;
• Successful radio programs from the 30s to the 60s;
• Television show appearances through the 50s and 60s.

But then, there's the backstage drama.

Shortly after their parents died in '48 and '49, Patty decided to go solo but didn't tell Laverene or Maxene. Her motivation, while mourning her parents, may also have something to do with her husband leaving her for Doris Day.

Maxene, a closeted lesbian, also left her husband in 1949 to discreetly enter into a relationship with her business manager Lynda Wells.

Patty then sued Maxene for a greater portion of their parents' estate, which led to Maxene's suicide attempt. But not before Laverne and Maxene appeared on the Red Skeleton Show, performing a diss track - in 1954! - entitled "Why Do They Always Give The Solos to Patty?"

Oh no, you didn't!

Patty then sued everybody, including Skeleton, for that stunt.

They tried to make nice in 1956 with a new record but were up against Elvis and rock and roll. They tried to rock with their bobby socks out, but they were labeled last year's news and sent off on the big band/nostalgia circuit.

Then, peacemaker Laverne died in 1967 of cancer.

Maxene and Patty continued to perform separately after Laverne's death, appearing on sitcoms, game shows, concerts, and Broadway. Maxene tried to reconcile, but Patty kept her distance, even joking that the earthquake that occurred the morning they received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was the aftermath of a phone call she had had with her sister.

Maxene mourned the lack of relationship with her sister until she died in 1995. Patty did not attend the funeral.