Mindy Carson
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Mindy Carson (born July 16, 1927) was an American traditional pop singer.
She was born in New York City. In 1946, still in her teens, she won an audition to the radio program, Stairway To The Stars. This gave her a chance to perform with Paul Whiteman's band and singer Martha Tilton, stars of the program. She joined the singing bandleader Harry Cool that year, and made a number of recordings with him, one of which, "Rumors Are Flying," made the charts.
She failed to make a chart hit recording during the next four years, but did get a lot of radio exposure: Guy Lombardo's syndicated program in the late 1940s, her own variety program on the CBS Network starting in 1949, and a television role on Florian Zabach's NBC variety program also beginning in 1949, lasting two years. By this time she had signed with RCA's record label, RCA Victor Records.
Although her initial recordings for RCA had no success, the success of Eileen Barton's novelty hit "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake" prompted the company to try a similar recording for Mindy Carson. Her recording of "Candy and Cake" was backed with My Foolish Heart as RCA catalog number 20-3204, and both sides made the charts for a two-sided hit. However she then had a number of recordings that failed to make it, and RCA dropped her in 1952.
She then moved to Columbia Records, and made a duet with Guy Mitchell, "Cause I Love You That's-A-Why," which managed to make the top 25. She then made a recording of a song, "All the Time and Everywhere," which was a big hit in the United Kingdom for Dickie Valentine but made it nowhere for any artist in the USA. A cover of The Gaylords' big hit "Tell Me You're Mine" charted at #22 and a few others made the top 30 in 1952 and 1953.
Finally, in August, 1954, she had a really big hit. Her recording of Wake the Town and Tell the People reached #13, despite the fact that the trends in popular music were moving to Rock'n'Roll and she was definitely not a R'n'R singer. She had only one more hit, Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby" in 1957, and by 1960 she had finished her recording career. (She had done some Broadway musical work in the late 1950s, but the plays were not very popular.)
[edit] External references
- Mindy Carson on "The Interlude Era" site