William P. Gottlieb · CC0

Kallen's 1954 recording of "Little Things Mean a Lot" held the number one spot on the Billboard chart for nine straight weeks and topped the UK singles chart as well, selling more than two million copies and earning her Billboard and Variety's vote for most popular female singer that year. At the height of that success she lost her voice performing at the London Palladium in 1955 and did not sing before an audience again for four years — testing it back into shape under a pseudonym in small towns before returning to notch thirteen top-ten hits in all.