Background
Shay was born Dorothy Sims in Jacksonville, Florida.
Shay was born Dorothy Sims in Jacksonville, Florida.
She was known as the "Park Avenue Hillbilly". When she began her career as a "straight" singer, she took vocal lessons to lose her Southern accent. She sang for the United Service Organizations during World World War World War II Dorothy changed her name to "Shay" in order to not be confused with Ginny Simms, another performer of the day, choosing "Shay" to honor her mentor Betty Shay (later Betty Corday).
While performing with Morton Gould and his orchestra, she performed an encore, "Uncle Fud", a hayseed novelty number that became very popular and launched her solo singing career.
She signed with Columbia Records and recorded a series of hit records. Her biggest hit was "Feudin" And Fightin"" in 1947.
In that same year, her album, "Dorothy Shay (The Park Avenue Hillbilly) Sings", was rated number 1 in Billboard magazine"s Best-Selling Popular Albums. She was the first female artist to have a number 1 album on the Billboard chart.
In her singing engagements, she performed dressed as a sophisticated urbanite while talking like a rural Southerner.
She was popular in clubs, radio and television She played a nightclub singer, also named Dorothy, in the 1951 Abbott and Costello movie Comin" Round The Mountain. She recorded for Capitol Records and Imperial Records where she recorded a rockabilly song titled "Hunky Dory".
Shay died of a heart attack on October 22, 1978 in Santa Monica, California.
Upon her death, the writers of The Waltons wrote her character off, with the mention that she sold the Dew Drop Inn and moved to California.