1. Ketty Lester was born on Revoyda Frierson; August 16,1934 and is an American singer and actress known for her 1961 hit single "Love Letters", which reached the top 5 of the charts in the US and the UK.
15 Facts About Ketty Lester
1. 2.
Ketty Lester is known for her role as Hester-Sue Terhune on the American television series Little House on the Prairie.
3.
Ketty Lester was born Revoyda Frierson on August 16,1934 in Hope, Arkansas.
4.
Ketty Lester's parents were farmers who would eventually have a total of 15 children.
5.
Ketty Lester won a scholarship to study music at San Francisco State College, and in the early 1950s, she began performing under the name "Ketty Lester" in the city's Purple Onion club.
6.
Ketty Lester later toured Europe and South America as a singer with Cab Calloway's orchestra.
7.
Ketty Lester appeared as a contestant on the December 26,1957, episode of You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx.
8.
Ketty Lester's recording of "Love Letters", which featured Lincoln Mayorga's sparse piano arrangement and Earl Palmer on drums, rose to No 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 early in 1962.
9.
Ketty Lester released an album, Love Letters, which contained the tracks "You Can't Lie to a Liar" and a cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal Performance category.
10.
Ketty Lester continued to record for Era with little success until 1964, when she signed with RCA.
11.
Ketty Lester moved to the Tower label, issuing a single and album, When A Woman Loves A Man, an answer record to Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman".
12.
However, these releases, and later records for the Pete label, including a 1968 album titled Ketty Lester, met with little commercial success.
13.
Ketty Lester established herself as a television actress in the 1970s and 1980s, playing the roles of Helen Grant on Days of Our Lives and as Hester-Sue Terhune on Little House on the Prairie, and she appeared on other television shows and movies, including The Night the City Screamed.
14.
Ketty Lester recorded an album of gospel music titled I Saw Him in 1984, and returned to films, appearing in Street Knight, and as Aunt Lucy in House Party 3.
15.
Ketty Lester attended the 50th Anniversary Reunion for Little House on the Prairie in 2024, meeting fans and delivering a sermon on stage.