Peg LaCentra

Margherita Maria Francesca LaCentra (c. 1910 – June 1, 1996) was an American contralto singer, best known for her work on old-time radio and her singing with Artie Shaw's orchestra. She also performed as Barbara Fulton. Early years Born in Boston, LaCentra studied at the Fenway Academy of Dramatic Art and the New England Conservatory of Music and graduated from Katharine Gibbs College. Radio LaCentra worked as an announcer at WNAC and performed on WBZ radio in Boston before moving to New York in 1931 to work on network radio broadcasts. She performed on NBC programs, including Beauty Box Theater, Circus Night in Silvertown, and Lucky Smith. In 1934, LaCentra was billed as Barbara Fulton when she sang with Leo Reisman's orchestra on radio. Use of the pseudonym was necessary because Reisman's sponsor was a competitor of the one for which she sang on another program. In December 1934, she began singing with Harry Reser and his orchestra on a new weekly program on NBC.