American group singer with sisters Dotty and Chris who performed in nightclubs during the ’50s and ’60s as The McGuire Sisters. After a split of 17 years, the sisters once more reached their fans in the 1980s, with Chris at 57, Dorothy, 56 and Phyllis 54. Their last performance had been on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1968. Singing together from the time they were kids. Dorothy and Chris left to raise their families and Phyllis worked on a solo career.
Phyllis, the biggest talker of the three, was married for two years in the ’50s but it was the man she did not marry who caused the most uproar. For most of her adult life her beau was Mafia chief Sam Giancana. They met in 1960 in Las Vegas and they remained close until his bloody gangland murder in 1975.
Her Upper East Side townhouse in New York was elegant, and closet space was important to one who owned 50 fur coats and the same cook for 21 years was valuable to one who couldn’t boil water. The extravagance did not compare to her spread in Vegas. The house was 26,000 sq. ft and a full-time staff of 19. Swans floated in the moat and there was a 45 ft. replica of the Eiffel Tower in the living room.
The girls were given a strict upbringing by a steelworker dad and a mother who was a minister. Still it was a loving environment, with everyone playing music and singing. With four-year-old baby Phyllis at the center, they sang at local events and functions. They were discovered at church and persuaded to go to New York after high school. They promptly won an “Arthur Godfrey Talent Contest.” Stardom came quickly for the fresh-faced and sweet girls, with one pop hit after another. They graced the covers of Life and Look magazines and became regular headliners in Las Vegas. In their heyday, they were bringing in $1 million a year apiece.
Dottie died in 2012 and Christine passed away in 2018. Phyllis McGuire died peacefully at her estate in Las Vegas, Nevada, on 29 December 2020 of natural causes at age 89.
Link to Wikipedia biography