Biography of Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathie Lee Gifford, the co-host of the ever-popular morning show LIVE with Regis & Kathie Lee, is featured on Take My Hand: Songs From the 100 Acre Wood, singing "My Balloon" and "Kanga-Roo Hop."
In addition to her contributions to Take My Hand, Gifford also performed the national anthem at the 1995 Superbowl and has recorded several albums, including a collection of standards, Sentimental, and a holiday classic, It's Christmastime.
Four years of piano lessons provided Gifford with the only formal music training of her childhood. At the age of 14, Gifford's professional singing career began when she and her sister organized a folk group called Pennsylvania Next Right. They gained experience in various aspects of the music business -- booking gigs, arranging the music, and making costumes.
After high school, Gifford studied communications, drama, and the arts in college, then headed straight to Los Angeles at the age of 20. She landed a role on Days of Our Lives, playing a minor character known as Nurse Callahan.
In 1977, Gifford became the featured singer on the game show Name That Tune, and later was a costar in the musical situation comedy Hee Haw Honeys, a spinoff of Hee Haw.
After spotting Gifford guest-hosting on A.M. Los Angeles (Regis Philbin's old show), the producers of Good Morning America offered her a job. Soon she was serving as a substitute anchor for Joan Lunden and traveling more than a quarter-million miles a year as a special correspondent covering human-interest stories.
Three years later, Gifford became cohost of The Morning Show with Regis Philbin. After a year, she left Good Morning America for the permanent slot on The Morning Show, which changed its name in 1988 to LIVE with Regis & Kathie Lee.
Gifford also performs solo with symphonies across the nation. In 1991, she set a new house record with her two-week engagement at New York's prestigious Rainbow and Stars showroom.
Kathie Lee and husband Frank Gifford have two children, Cody Newton and Cassidy Erin. The Giffords reside in Connecticut.