Norma Tanega born 26 January 1939

Norma Cecilia Tanega (January 30, 1939 – December 29, 2019) was an American folk and pop singer-songwriter, painter, and experimental musician. In the 1960s, she had a hit with the single "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" and wrote songs for Dusty Springfield and other prominent musicians. In later decades, Tanega worked mostly as a percussionist, playing various styles of music in the bands Baboonz, hybridVigor, and Ceramic Ensemble. 

Tanega was born in Vallejo, California in 1939, to a Panamanian mother and a Filipino father who was a bandmaster for the United States Navy and eventually led his own band after 30 years of service. After moving to Long Beach at age two, she started classical piano lessons at age nine. She was equally passionate about visual art, and directed her high school's art gallery during her senior year. She attended Scripps College on a full scholarship and earned her MFA from Claremont Graduate School in 1962. 

With her studies completed, Tanega traveled Europe and then moved to New York City. Living in Greenwich Village, she became a part of the thriving folk music scene. Along with working at a mental hospital, where she'd perform songs for the patients, Tanega also worked summers as a music counsellor at a camp in the Catskill Mountains. Producer Herb Bernstein saw her perform there and introduced her to producer and songwriter Bob Crewe, most famous for his work with the Four Seasons. Tanega signed to Crewe's New Voice label in 1965 and released her debut single, "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog," in 1966. Inspired by her real-life pet (which she owned because her apartment building didn't allow dogs), the song mixed folk-rock with New York pop-soul production. It became an international hit, reaching number three in Canada and peaking at number 22 on the U.S. and U.K. charts. The song's popularity spawned covers by Barry McGuire, Art Blakey, and the Jazz Crusaders, as well as versions in Danish, Dutch, and French. 

                              

To promote "Walkin" and her full-length album -- also called Walkin' My Cat Named Dog -- Tanega appeared on American Bandstand and Where the Action Is and was the sole female performer on a North American tour that included Gene Pitney, Chad & Jeremy, and Bobby Goldsboro on the line-up. Later in 1966, she toured England and performed on the TV show Ready, Steady, Go!, where she met Dusty Springfield. 

The pair hit it off, and Tanega moved to London to be with Springfield. Along with painting, Tanega spent her time writing songs, many of which Springfield recorded. These included "No Stranger Am I," which first appeared on Walkin' My Cat Named Dog, and "Come for a Dream," which Tanega co-wrote with Antônio Carlos Jobim. 

She worked with Blossom Dearie on a song that appeared on Dearie's 1970 album That's Just the Way I Want to Be, and also pursued her own music career. Working with the Viscounts' Don Paul and producer/keyboardist Mike Moran, she recorded her second album, 1971's I Don't Think It Will Hurt If You Smile, a set of songs inspired by her relationship with Springfield that added touches of psych-rock to her sound. However, the album didn't repeat Tanega's earlier chart success, and by 1972, her relationship with Springfield was over, although they remained friends until Dusty’s death in 1999. 

Tanega returned to Claremont, Califiornia and took jobs teaching both music and English as a second language. She returned to painting and exhibiting her artwork. Musically she switched from playing guitar to percussion and her style evolved from folk-rock singer-songwriting to more instrumental and experimental music. In the 1980s she was a member of Scripps ceramics professor Brian Ransom's Ceramic Ensemble, a group that played Ransom's handmade earthenware instruments. Over the years Ceramic Ensemble played at universities, folk festivals, and art museums. 

In the 1990s Tanega founded the group hybridVigor, starting as a duo with Mike Henderson for their first album, then expanding to a trio with the addition of Rebecca Jamm for their second album. In 1998 Tanega formed the Latin Lizards with Robert Grajeda, and the duo released the album Dangerous in 2003. Her next band was called Baboonz with guitarist Tom Skelly and bassist Mario Verlangieri. The trio released a self-titled CD in 2008, the album HA! In 2009, and a third called 8 Songs Ate Brains in 2010. Other recording projects soon followed, including the album Push with John Zeretzke, Twin Journey with Steve Rushingwind Ruiz, and a return collaboration with Ceramic Ensemble sound sculptor Brian Ransom for their album Internal Medicine. 

In 2014, her profile got another boost with the use of her song "You're Dead" in the vampire mockumentary film What We Do in the Shadows. The historic preservation center Claremont Heritage held an exhibition of her paintings in 2018. A year later, Tanega passed from colon cancer at age 80. 

(Edited from AllMusic & Wikipedia)