Born February 4th 1931 in Middlesbrough, growing up into being a shapely lady , but petite at only 5' 1 ". She had big blue eyes, red gold hair and these good looks helped her career as she had, of course, an excellent melodic voice. Educated in Leeds, she studied music and singing as well. Whilst working as a salesgirl she started part time singing with a dance band at the Locarno in Leeds. Here she was spotted by musician Ray Ellington, then well known for radio shows. She debuted with Ellington at Glasgow Locarno on 24th August 1953, recording 'Alls going well' with him in 1954. She soon went solo, with Ellington's pianist Dick Katz going with her as her personal manager. Several records were issued, which whilst not huge hits did well in the charts, with 'Love me forever' her best , reaching No 5 in the charts in 1958. TV beckoned and she appeared in many shows, top one being 'Spot that tune' for 7 years and was in demand. She had her own show for Granada TV, had many variety tours, appeared on US TV successfully, and also the 1960 Royal Command Performance. She had twin sons by her first marriage, Paul and Barry, who had a successful singing career of their own Paul also wrote songs for various artists, including Sinatra. (Paul sadly died from cancer in 1992, aged only 44 ). She retired from show business in 1967 following her marriage to her 2nd husband , impresario Harold Davison, and they moved to Florida in 1988. She died 15th january 1999, in Boca Raton, Florida aged 67, from heart trouble after contracting pneumonia. She was survived by her husband, her son Barry and a daughter. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Marion+Ryan">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.