ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, August 25, 1996 TAG: 9608260028
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: Associated Press
Alyce King Clarke, whose deep, rich voice gave a distinctive sound to King Sisters from the 1930s to television's ``The King Family Show'' in the 1960s, has died. She was 80.
Clarke was one of three dozen family members who starred in the variety show, which ran in 1965-66 and was briefly revived in 1969.
Earlier, a quartet of the King Sisters sang on radio programs in the 1930s and 1940s and on television on shows of Ed Sullivan, Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin.
They had a series of hits in the early '40s, including the novelty song ``The Hut-Sut Song (A Swedish Serenade)'' and ``It's Love-Love-Love.'' They also appeared in films.
They sang with Horace Heidt's band, and later with the band of Alvino Rey, who married Clarke's sister, Luise.
According to the reference book ``The Penguin Encyclopedia of Pop Music,'' Alyce King ``could sing unusually low for a woman, which gave [the King Sisters] a fuller sound, made them one of the most interesting of '30s-'40s girl groups.''
Clarke was born in Payson, Utah, the fourth of Pearl and William King Driggs' eight children. Her father, a voice teacher and classical musician, trained his children to play instruments and booked them for shows as The Driggs Family of Entertainers.
In the 1930s, Clarke and various sisters began performing together, sometimes as a trio, sometimes in a larger group. Usually, they were a quartet: Alyce, Donna, Luise and Yvonne. At one time or another, sisters Maxine and Marilyn also performed.
When the family act came to television, all six sisters took part, as did their father, then nearly 80, and various offspring, husbands and cousins. The show combined music with gentle humor, and always ended with the family singing ``Love at Home.''
Survivors include all five of Clarke's singing sisters.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB