The McGuire sisters were born in and grew up in where their mother, Lillie, was an ordained minister of the Miamisburg First and let them sing in the church as young girls. They sang at , and church . When they started in 1935, the youngest , Phyllis, was only four years old. Eventually, they sang at occasions other than church-related ones, and, by 1949, they were singing at and ' . They incorporated a more diverse repertoire for those events, expanding into more than the usual they had sung at church.

In 1952, they appeared on , and, as a result, hired them for his other shows, where they remained for seven years. They performed for five : (, , , and ), and for .

The sisters maintained a busy television schedule, making frequent appearances on popular variety hours hosted by , , , , , and . The trio was dressed and coiffed identically and performed their synchronized body movements and hand gestures with military precision. Their recordings of "Sincerely," "Picnic," and "Sugartime" all sold over one million copies.

Year Single Chart positions
1954 "Pine Tree, Pine Over Me" 26 —"Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" 7 —"Muskrat Ramble" 10 —"Lonesome Polecat" 28 —"Christmas Alphabet" 25 —1955 "Sincerely" 1 14"No More" 17 20"It May Sound Silly" 11 —"Doesn't Anybody Want Me?" flip —"Something's Gotta Give" 5 —"Rhythm 'n Blues" flip —"He" 10 —"Give Me Love" 95 —1956 "Missing" 44 —"Picnic" 13 —"Delilah Jones" 37 24"Weary Blues" 32 —"In the Alps" 63 —"Ev'ry Day of My Life" 37 —"Endless" 52 —"Goodnight, My Love, Pleasant Dreams" 32 —1957 "Sugartime" 1 14"Ding Dong" 25 —1958 "Volare" 80 —1959 "May You Always" 11 15"Summer Dreams" 55 —"Peace" 85 —