On January 13th,1960 Mary was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Louisiana. August 19th,1999 The Mary Kaye Trio was inducted into the Casino Legends Hall Of Fame at the Tropicana Hotel for their contribution to the music scene of Las Vegas. Limited Edition Commemorative Gaming Chips Imprinted with their image in $5 and $25 denominations were issued by the Tropicana in honor of the Trio. In 2007, the Nevada State Museum discussed building a display in their new location featuring the Mary Kaye Trio for their contribution not only to the Las Vegas Music scene as the first ever lounge act, but also as the group responsible for initiating 24 hour gambling throughout the industry. Prior to the Trio’s late night/ early morning performances all hotels would shut down business after the Main Showroom patrons left. When Sinatra, gamblers and fans unloaded huge sums of money at the New Frontier’s late night Mary Kaye Trio lounge show, all the other hotels followed suite within 72 hours. The Mary Kaye Trio set 24/7 gaming into motion in Las Vegas !
In 1954, a Fender Guitar representative approached Mary for a picture of her with the Trio and the first ever Custom Fender Stratocaster Guitar backstage between performances. The International Musicians Magazine advertised it as being used exclusively by the Mary Kaye Trio. They were to appear in the Cha Cha Crazed film by Sam Katzman called “Cha, Cha, Cha Boom” & once again the guitar surfaced on the set of Columbia Pictures in the hands of Mary Kaye performing with the Trio in full color CinemaScope. Guitar enthusiasts around the world began to refer to the Fender Stratocaster as ” The Mary Kaye Strat ” for obvious reasons. One problem persisted, Mary played and favored her D’Angelico guitars, hand crafted for her by John D’Angelico himself. The ad that wouldn’t go away then took on another aspect of truth. All the amplifiers from that point on were Fender amps supplied by Fender for the tenure of the Trios career, so the add was true from the amplifier aspect. In 2002, The Fender company honored Mary for her contribution to the success of the #1 selling Strat in their catalog with a custom made Mary Kaye Stratocaster with a special maple tiger striped neck inscribed on the neck plate with her name from her friends at Fender Guitar. In 2005, they endorsed her with a Limited Signature Mary Kaye Tribute Stratocaster for sale.
Frank Ross, Mary Kaye and Norman Kaye for nearly 25 years were considered one of the greatest acts to ever set foot on stage. A twist of fate changed their career to one of the highest paid lounge acts in show business to date and set the standard for lounge entertainment for generations to come. Their talent, charm, wit, and humor was always at the forefront of their act. Their relationship was unlike any other because of their love of music and their intense dedication throughout the years to one another.