Joanie Sommers (born Joan Drost, February 24, 1941)[1] is an American singer and actress with a career concentrating on jazz, standards and popular material and show-business credits. Once billed as "The Voice of the Sixties", and associated with top-notch arrangers, songwriters and producers, Sommers' popular reputation became closely tied to her biggest, yet most uncharacteristic, hit song, "Johnny Get Angry".[2]
Born in Buffalo, New York, United States,[1] Sommers began singing in church to deal with "a difficult childhood". In 1951, aged 10, she appeared on a Buffalo television program singing Hank Williams' "Your Cheating Heart", winning an amateur talent contest. Throughout her youth, she lived with her father and 2 brothers in North Tonawanda, New York and attended school there until age 14.
Her break came after a friend took her to the Deauville Country Club (now Braemar Country Club) in Santa Monica, where she sang with Tommy Oliver's band. He arranged for a demo record to be cut and presented it to Warner Brothers, whereupon Sommers was signed to the label.[3][4]
Warner initially used her vocal talents singing "Am I Blue" on a 1959 Warner specialty record, Behind Closed Doors at a Recording Session,[5] and on one side of the spoken-word single "Kookie's Love Song" with Edd Byrnes.[6] The pairing with Byrnes led to a small role in 77 Sunset Strip, the private detective television series featuring Byrnes in the role of Gerald Lloyd "Kookie" Kookson III.[1] In addition, she sang on Byrnes' "I Don't Dig You" and "Hot Rod Rock" which appeared on one of his albums.[7]
Concurrently, Oliver supported Sommers by starring her in his orchestra engagements at California venues Hollywood Palladium and The Chalet at Lake Arrowhead.[8]
Her 1960 debut single "One Boy" (from the musical Bye Bye Birdie) charted for three months, peaking at number 54 on the Billboard Top 100. Both "One Boy" and the flip side "I'll Never Be Free" were Billboard Spotlight Winners. A subsequent touring schedule included venues such as New York's Left Bank Club, Hollywood's Crescendo, Freddie's in Minneapolis, and The Cloister in Chicago, and appearances on the Jack Paar Show and Bobby Darin Special.[9][10]
In early 1960, Warner released Sommers' first LP, Positively the Most,[11] which did not include the "One Boy" hit single. Later that year, Warner released the single "Ruby-Duby-Du", featuring a vocal version of the Tobin Mathews & Co. instrumental from the motion picture Key Witness.[12] The record did not chart.
In a 2001 interview, Sommers commented on the legacy of her greatest hit: "Twenty albums with some of the greatest names in jazz and I'm eternally linked to 'Johnny Get Angry'".[14]
Her 1965 track, "Don't Pity Me" was a Northern soul hit in the UK, often featured on Northern soul top lists.[15] The single record routinely changes hands among collectors at over $500 a copy.[16] The flip side, "My Block", was written by Jimmy Radcliffe, Bert Berns and Carl Spencer. It had previously been recorded by Clyde McPhatter on his Songs Of the Big City album and by The Chiffons, recording as The Four Pennies, on Rust Records.[citation needed]
In 1963, she appeared on the January 22 segment of The Jack Benny Program, where she sang "I'll Never Stop Loving You"; another guest was actor Peter Lorre.[19]
In a parallel career track of commercial vocal work, Sommers sang the jingles "Now It's Pepsi, For Those Who Think Young" (to the tune of Makin' Whoopee) and "Come Alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation" in radio and TV commercials. She came to be referred to as "The Pepsi Girl".[23][24] Years later she sang the jingle "Now You See It, Now You Don't" for the sugar-free companion product, Diet Pepsi.[14]
Sommers' voice work for animated films includes The Peppermint Choo Choo, which was scrubbed, although the music was released; Rankin/Bass' The Mouse on the Mayflower as Priscilla Mullins (1968); and B.C.: The First Thanksgiving (1973) in dual roles as the Fat Broad and the Cute Chick.[25]
In the early 1970s, Sommers withdrew from show business to focus on family life.[1] She began making public appearances again during the 1980s, including two on Santa Monica radio station KCRW's satirical program, The Cool & the Crazy, hosted by Art Fraud (Ronn Spencer) and Vic Tripp (Gene Sculatti).[citation needed]
In 2001, Sommers sang two songs on Abe Most's Camard album, I Love You Much Too Much. She performed the title track and "Bei Mir Bist du Schoen." She sang a chorus in Yiddish on both tracks.[citation needed]
In 2004 the Japan-only album release, Johnny Got Angry, consisted of all original tunes written by Sommers' friend and voice actor, Will Ryan.[26]
Personal life
Sommers was married to theatrical agent Jerry Steiner from 1961 until his sudden death in 1972. Their three children are Carolyn, Nancy and Jason.[27]
Singles discography
Release date
Titles Both sides from same album except where indicated
2001: "I Love You Much Too Much" Camard (not numbered)
2005: Sings Bossa Nova Absord ABCJ 339
2011: Complete Warner Bros. Singles Real Gone Music
2013: Come Alive The Complete Columbia Recordings Real Gone Music
Related Research Articles
Vic Damone was an American traditional pop and big band singer and actor. He was best known for his performances of songs such as the number one hit "You're Breaking My Heart", and other hits like "On the Street Where You Live" and "I Have But One Heart".
Frank Rosolino was an American jazz trombonist.
Warner Records Inc. is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the American film studio Warner Bros.
Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman is best known for her music during the late 1970s through the early 1990s. Some of her most notable songs were "You Know How to Love Me" (1979), "Living All Alone" (1986) and "Don't Wanna Change the World" (1991).
Veronica "Randy" Crawford is a retired American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has appeared on the Hot 100 singles chart twice. The first time was in 1979 as a guest vocalist on the Crusaders' top-40 hit "Street Life". She also dueted with Rick Springfield on the song "Taxi Dancing", which hit number 59 as the B-side of Springfield's hit "Bop Til You Drop". She has had five top-20 hits in the UK, including her 1980 number-two hit, "One Day I'll Fly Away", as well as six UK top-10 albums. Despite her American nationality, she won Best British Female Solo Artist in recognition of her popularity in the UK at the 1982 Brit Awards. In the late 2000s, she received her first two Grammy Award nominations.
"Blues in the Night" is a popular blues song which has become a pop standard and is generally considered to be part of the Great American Songbook. The music was written by Harold Arlen, the lyrics by Johnny Mercer, for a 1941 film begun with the working title Hot Nocturne, but finally released as Blues in the Night. The song is sung in the film by William Gillespie.
Johnette Napolitano is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and bassist for the alternative rock group Concrete Blonde.
"The Man that Got Away" is a torch song, published in 1953 and written for the 1954 version of the film A Star Is Born. The music was written by Harold Arlen, and the lyrics by Ira Gershwin. In 1954, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. In 2004, Judy Garland's performance of the song was selected by the American Film Institute as the eleventh greatest song in American cinema history.
Maria Muldaur is an American folk and blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s. She recorded the 1973 hit song "Midnight at the Oasis" and has recorded albums in the folk, blues, early jazz, gospel, country, and R&B traditions.
Dorsey William Burnette III is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter who was part of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1987 to 1996. Burnette also had a brief career in acting.
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer in 1944. He originally wrote it as a theme for his radio program. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra, and Roy Orbison.
"For All We Know" is a popular song published in 1934, with music by J. Fred Coots and lyrics by Sam M. Lewis. Popular versions in 1934 were by Hal Kemp and Isham Jones.
"Frankie and Johnny" is a murder ballad, a traditional American popular song. It tells the story of a woman, Frankie, who finds her man Johnny making love to another woman and shoots him dead. Frankie is then arrested; in some versions of the song she is also executed.
Anita Jean Kerr was an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Europe.
"Makin' Whoopee" is a jazz/blues song, first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical Whoopee!. Gus Kahn wrote the lyrics and Walter Donaldson composed the music for the song as well as for the entire musical.
"Alfie" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David to promote the 1966 film Alfie. The song was a major hit for Cilla Black (UK) and Dionne Warwick (US).
Barbara Ann "Bobbi" Humphrey is an American jazz flautist and singer. She has recorded twelve albums over the course of her career, mostly playing jazz fusion, funk, and soul-jazz. In 1971, she was the first female instrumentalist signed by Blue Note and in 1994, she founded the jazz label Paradise Sounds Records.
"It's Gonna Work Out Fine" is a song written by Rose Marie McCoy and Joe Seneca. It was originally released by Ike & Tina Turner in 1961 as a single from their album Dynamite! (1962). The record is noted for being their first Grammy nominated song and their second million-selling single after "A Fool In Love".
David Spinozza is an American guitarist and producer. He worked with former Beatles Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon during the 1970s, and had a long collaboration with singer-songwriter James Taylor, producing Taylor's album Walking Man.
"Johnny Get Angry" is a song written by Hal David and Sherman Edwards and performed by Joanie Sommers. It reached No.7 on the U.S. pop chart in 1962. It was featured on her 1962 album Johnny Get Angry.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
