Kathy Linden (born 1938) is an American pop singer from

Moorestown Township, New Jersey Moorestown is a township in Burlington County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is an eastern suburb of Philadelphia and geographically part of the South Jersey region of the state. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was ...

. She grew up in Burlington, New Jersey. Linden scored two big hits on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 late in the 1950s. The first was " Billy", a song originally written in 1911; it hit number seven in 1958.

Joel Whitburn Joel Carver Whitburn (November 29, 1939 – June 14, 2022) was an American author and music historian, responsible for setting up the Record Research, Inc. series of books on record chart placings. Early life Joel Carver Whitburn was born in Wau ...

, ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits''. 7th edn, 2000 The second was "

Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye "Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye" is a song written by Jack Vaughn and performed by Kathy Linden. It reached #11 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart in April 1959. The song was A Worchester Production and featured the Joe Leahy Orchestra. The single ranked ...

", a song written by a radio program director named Jack Vaughn; it rose to number eleven in 1959. Both singles were released on

Felsted Records Felsted Records was the name of two record labels. The UK version began as a subsidiary of Decca Records in July 1954 with music mainly in the jazz and dance band genres and recordings leased from the French Blue Star, Riviera, and Classique l ...

and featured

Joe Leahy Bandleader, arranger, conductor, record producer and trumpeter Joseph J. Leahy (July 25, 1916 - September 12, 1974) (aged 58) was a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He joined Les Brown and his Band of Renown at twenty, then the Charlie Barnet band ...

's backing orchestra. Linden was known for having a breathy, childlike voice, even as a married woman in her 20s. Linden's talents appeared early. Her first public appearance was as a tap and ballet dancer when she was five years old. Since then, she acted in school plays and musicals, appeared in public pageants, played piano and violin in several local symphony orchestras, and with an all-girl string quintet called the Singing Strings. She attended the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School in 1954, was a soprano soloist with the All State Chorus in 1955, and studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. As featured vocal soloist with the Singing Strings, she appeared in many well-known spots in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. She also sang with several local bands. At 19, she was discovered by record producer and trumpeter

when she auditioned for him. He was so intrigued with her sound that he recorded her and her first release was "It's Just My Luck to Be Fifteen." He transferred her recording contract to

, a subsidiary of

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

which had just set up shop that year. She debuted on Felsted with "Billy". "

" became an international hit, especially in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where Linden's version peaked at no 3, where it stayed for many weeks in September and October 1959. After more recordings for Felsted and subsequently

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

and

Capitol A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity. Specific capitols include: * United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. * Numerous ...

, some of which became regional hits, Linden retired from show business in 1963 to devote more time to her family and other personal interests. In 2015, Linden gave her first and only radio interview since her retirement. She told former Casey Kasem interviewer Ronnie Allen that her life had changed enormously around 1980 when she became a Christian and started writing inspirational songs and singing and leading worship at many churches. In 1985, she was interviewed and sang on the ''Joy Program'' on TV. In 1992, she made a pilgrimage to Israel and led worship on the boat on the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

. She also led worship in both maximum and minimum security prisons of Southern California for three years. In 2019, Linden recorded a new album of original inspirational, country and instrumental songs called ''The Love That's In My Heart'', her first release in more than 55 years.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

The Official Kathy Linden website: kathylinden.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Linden, Kathy 1938 births Living people American women pop singers Singers from New Jersey People from Moorestown, New Jersey 21st-century American women