Front runner

The Kim Sisters

nightclub act of
American standards
was a big hit with
crowds at the
Edgewater Beach
Hotels Polynesian
Village, where the trio
performed in 1960.

SiSter Act

From the McGuire Sisters to the Chordettes (remember Mr. Sandman?) to

later acts like the Shirelles, the Ronettes, and the Supremes, girl groups ruled
the airways in the 1950s and 60s, and Chicago saw dozens of these performers
pass through the city in their quest for musical stardom. The most unlikely success story among them might just have been The Kim Sisters.
Born in Seoul, the talented triosisters Ai-ja and Sook-ja and their cousin
Min-jatogether played more than 20 musical instruments and frst gained
attention by entertaining American GIs stationed in Seoul during the Korean
War with renditions of feel-good American tunes like Ole Buttermilk Sky
and Candy and Cake. The performers particularly impressed a soldier from
small-town Marengo, Illinois, named Bob McMackin, who offered to be their
manager. Encouraged by their early success, The Kim Sisters, with McMackins
help, made their way to the States, bringing a fresh look and sound with their
quirky takes on American pop standards. The act landed in Las Vegasand hit

16 michiganavemag.com

it big. By 1959, the singers had signed their frst booking: a four-week running
show at the Thunderbird Hotel, followed by a residency at the Stardust Hotel,
where The Ed Sullivan Show was flming. The trio auditioned for Sullivans show,
made it on, and returned to the show a whopping 24 times.
On tour in Chicago in 1960, the trio graced the stages of the old Edgewater
Beach Hotel and the Gate of Horn folk club on the near North Side and gained
a devoted following. (A Chicago Tribune article publicizing their Chicago show
dates notes, Chicago has become [a] second home to themone of their liveliest numbers is the song Chicago, My Home Town.) Not bad for three young
women in a foreign country who didnt speak a single word of English when they
arrived, aside from the song lyrics they had memorized. As Min-ja explained
in a 2011 interview, the language barrier ultimately didnt matter to their fans.
They just loved us, she said. Our pronunciation was bad, but they knew the
melody and always said, More, more, more! MA

photography by getty images

In 1960, Korean Import the m SiSterS became an amerIcan pop culture phenomenon
and brought theIr gIrl-group stylIngs to the chIcago stage. by emily brandenstein