Friday, December 22, 2006

One Shot Wonders, pt 9

See intro below

LYNNE TAYLOR (9)
Lynn Taylor was not only a One Shot Wonder in 1957, but also in 1963---as a member of the folk group the Rooftop Singers, a One HIT Wonder with the Top Ten doughnut, “Walk Right In.” It landed at #1 the week of 1/26/63.

Strictly speaking, Taylor---aside from her recordings with the Rooftop Singers--- made one-and-third LPs, for she appears as a guest jazz vocalist on a recording by US TV comedian Ernie Kovacs. But it’s difficult for me NOT to include a track from her album of Arthur Schwartz songs, “I See Your Face Before Me” this afternoon because of its notoriety as arguably, in its original form, just about the most widely desired recording (right up there along Pinky Winters’ 1955 Vantage 10 inch LP) on the Japanese vocal jazz collectors’ market.

In 1957 Barbara Lea said: "Lynn is the best of the modern jazz singers. She sounds like the best of Peggy Lee -- that is, she sings the way I wish Peggy would sing more often."

Taylor’s Arthur Schwartz LP came about as a result of the songwriter’s son, Jonathan Schwartz. He was friends with Taylor and it was he who introduced her to his father's music and caused the album to be recorded. Taylor was born in 1937 and died 1979, and was with the Rooftop Singers from 1962 to 1967. update: the correct birth and death dates for Taylor are most likely 1928- 1982.

PLAY TRACK (It’s All Yours, Haunted Heart)

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