Marcie Blane (born Marcia Blank, May 21, 1944, Brooklyn, New
York) is an American singer who recorded pop music. The Seville record label
issued a demo performed by the high school student as a favor for a friend. The
song was "Bobby's Girl", which was followed by "What Does a Girl
Do" and several other singles.
Released on Seville records in the fall of 1962,
"Bobby's Girl" made #2 on the Cash Box chart and #3 on the Billboard
Hot 100, and was later recorded for the German market in their language. It
sold over one million copies by 1963, and was awarded a gold disc. In the
United Kingdom the song was covered by Susan Maughan who had the hit.
"What Does A Girl Do?", the follow-up single, rose to #82 on the Hot
100 list in early 1963, and was Blane's only other appearance on any Billboard
chart.
Seville kept Marcie's releases flowing thick and fast
through 1963, but "Little Miss Fool", "You Gave My Number To
Billy" and "Why Can't I Get A Guy" all failed to catch on, and
her position as the nation's top-selling female singer was soon taken by Little
Peggy March and Lesley Gore. But by now she had higher things than the
fickleness of fans on her mind, having recently enrolled as a fulltime music
major at Queens College, the alma mater of Paul Simon, Carole King and Marvin
Hamlisch, to name just a few. Marcie did find time, though, to visit the UK,
where she performed on TV's Thank Your Lucky Stars.
Marcie's only release of 1964 was "Bobby Did", a
song co-written by the then unknown Neil Diamond. 1965's "She'll Break The
String" marked the end of her recording career. It transpires the whole
experience had not been one Marcie had enjoyed. She loved music, and always
had, but cared not for the record business. She had continued making records
because she was contractually obliged to do so, but had elected against
promoting them, focusing instead on her education and family life.
After graduating from Queens College, Marcie got married,
had two children, and went on to enjoy a whole new career working in education.
Around 1965 Marcie retired from the
music business and, as of the early 1990's, was a music and arts educator in
New York.
"The music
business was impossible for me to deal with," Marcie revealed in a rare
interview in 1988. "Everything changed. I felt very isolated and very
lonely. I decided not to continue. I couldn't. It was too difficult. I didn't
feel comfortable in front of a lot of people, with everyone making a fuss. I
didn't have the sense of myself that I needed. It's taken all these years to be
able to enjoy what there was." (Info edited mainly from Spectropop & Wikipedia)
2 comments:
For Marcie Blane - Bobby's Girl: the Complete Seville Recordings go here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/mq3o9yql3e0yau0/Bobby%27s+Girl.rar
1. Bobby's Girl (mono)
2. A Time to Dream
3. What Does a Girl Do?
4. How Can I Tell Him?
5. Little Miss Fool
6. Ragtime Sound
7. You Gave My Number to Billy
8. Told You So
9. Why Can't I Get a Guy
10. Who's Going to Take My Daddy's Place
11. Bobby Did
12. After the Laughter
13. The Hurtin' Kind
14. She'll Break the String
15. Wer Einmal 'A' Gesagt (What Does a Girl Do?)
16. So Ist Das Leben (How Can I Tell Him?)
17. Guessin' Games (prev. unrel. demo)
18. Thank You (prev. unrel. demo)
19. Suddenly It's Over (prev. unrel. demo)
20. I'm Just a Cute Little Girl (prev. unrel. demo)
21. A Time to Dream (prev. unrel. demo)
22. Bobby's Girl (stereo)
I like her version of Bobby's Girl' but having grown up with the UK cover, I still prefer Susan Maughan's version better. It's nice to know that Marcie did do more songs, even though they seem to be rarely heard these days.
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