Linda Laurie born 26 May 1941

Linda Maxine Laurie (May 26, 1941 - November 20, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter, best known for the novelty record "Ambrose (Part 5)", which went to #52 on the Billboard chart while she was still a high school student in 1959.

She made her first record, 'Sun Glasses' by The Shades Featuring The Knott Sisters, with her friend Susan Yellin when she was just 17 years old and the two were still attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn. It was issued on Big Top 3003 in 1958. The flip side was 'Undivided Attention' simply credited to The Knott Sisters.

Linda Laurie is one of several artists who made some great records, but never got on the Top 40 charts with any of them. That's not to say she never made a chart record, as the second record she ever made, and the first one to bear her name as the artist, reached No.52 on Billboard's Hot 100 in March 1959. 

It was a bizarre novelty record that she made in 1958 on Glory Records, then personally shopped it around to radio stations. It got a lot of airplay on the East Coast, particularly in the New York City and Philadelphia areas.

To say this record was strange would be an understatement. It's a spoken-novelty record with heavy Brooklyn accents. It features Linda Laurie as a girl walking through a dark subway tunnel with her boyfriend, Ambrose, an almost perverted-sounding older guy whose deep voice was also done by Linda! Although it was called 'Ambrose (Part Five)' there were never any earlier versions. (The flip side, "Ooh, What A Lover", also received some airplay.)

                                   

The songs success helped to land her a spot on rock and roll package shows—including Alan Freed’s stage shows at the Brooklyn Paramount and Lee Gordon’s “Big Show” tours in Australia—as well as television show appearances.The song's notoriety was enough to get young Linda on the February 10, 1959 edition of To Tell The Truth; only two of the four panelists correctly identified her.

Laurie found the travel strenuous and eventually settled back in New York. In the sixties, Laurie co-owned a boutique dress shop in Manhattan, but she continued to perform music on her own terms. She was a regular at Trude Heller’s club in the West Village. She made several more teen and novelty records, for various labels.. Although she never hit the charts again with her own material, her records have become very popular with collectors, such as "Stay with Me" (Andie 5015); "Chico" (Keetch 6001); "Lucky" (Recona 3502); "Prince Charming" (Rust 5022); and "Stay-At-Home Sue" (Rust 5042).  

Linda also cut some records to follow-up her only chart hit. They include 'Forever Ambrose' and 'Return Of Ambrose'. There was even a record about Ambrose made by another group, Jimmy And The Valentines on Cub 9024 in 1959. It was called 'Just Keep Walkin' by Ambrose. Linda also made a favorite Answer Song when she cut 'Stay-At-Home Sue', a response to Dion's 'Runaround Sue."

After relocating to the West Coast, Laurie started writing songs for other artists such as Bobby Vinton, Sonny And Cher, Frank and Nancy Sinatra, and Love Unlimited. Her biggest claim to fame came when a song she wrote and recorded herself got covered by Helen Reddy and became a No.3 chart hit in 1973. That song was 'Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)'. Linda also wrote the theme music for the Saturday morning show, 'Land Of The Lost', which was later used in the 2009 movie version starring Will Farrell. It was even covered by Everclear. 'I Did It For Love', the disco song she wrote for Love Unlimited in 1977, was sampled on several hip hop songs in the 1990's, like 'It's All About The Benjamins' by Puff Daddy (on an extended remix for DJ Clue's Holiday Holdup mix tape in 1996), 'Money In The Bank' by Swizz Beats, 'Miss You' by Mariah Carey, and 'The Gang' by Shyne.

Linda Laurie became Executive Director for Theatre Of Life For
Children, a community-based organisation dedicated to providing multi-cultural access to performing arts for children. In addition to providing organizational leadership, she worked directly with student actors.

She was diagnosed with cancer and passed away at the age of 68 on 20 November 2009 in Santa Barbara, California.

(Edited from article by David McKee @ 45cat.com & womeninrockproject)

FOOTNOTE: There are not many pictures of Linda on the web. The same old few crop up repeatedly, which I have used.  But there is one glamorous picture that appears frequently (look right). I cannot confirm that it is in fact her. A few comments on various web sites state that it is definitely not. But the mystery continues as I managed to trace the photo back to Bert Berns web site. Bert was a songwriter, producer and label chief. He produced two of Linda’s singles: Jose He Say & Chico, also this photograph is currently on sale on ebay, as Linda Laurie.……. Any comments anyone?