Widely regarded as a "one-hit wonder" due to her 1963 million-selling single record "A Wonderful Summer," Robin Ward was also a session singer (under her real name, Jackie Ward) whose voice can be heard in several popular U.S. television series and motion pictures since the 1950s. In the music industry, a one-hit wonder is an artist who is generally known for only one hit single. ... A session singer is a singer who is hired for a single session of recording, as opposed to being a regular member of a band. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ...

Early years

Born in 1941 to a military family in Hawaii (her father served in the U.S. Navy), Jacqueline McDonnell was raised in Nebraska. Her first public singing performances were with her two sisters in a Nebraska church - she was eight years old at the time. After the trio won a national talent search run by Horace Heidt[1], they moved to Los Angeles to look for work in the music industry. State nickname: The Aloha State Official languages Hawaiian and English Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Governor Linda Lingle (R) Senators Daniel Inouye (D) Daniel Akaka (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 43rd 28,337 km² 41. ... The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... State nickname: Cornhusker State Official languages English Capital Lincoln Largest city Omaha Governor Dave Heineman (R) Senators Chuck Hagel (R) Ben Nelson (D) Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 16th 200,520 km² 0. ... Horace Heidt (May 21, 1901 - December 1, 1986) was an American pianist, Big Band leader, radio and television personality, and entertainer. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... The music industry is the industry that creates, performs, promotes, and preserves music. ...

At the age of 13, she was hired by television station KTLA to sing on a Your Hit Parade-like program, Bandstand Revue, in which she sang popular hits for four years as part of the house singing ensemble. After she parted ways with KTLA, she started a career of singing in demo recordings for various LA-based songwriters and session singing for several California-based record companies and producers. One result of her session work was the recording for her voice as Speedy Gonzales in Pat Boone's last million-selling single, "Speedy Gonzales," in 1962 (Elton John stated that the "hook" in his best-selling single, "Crocodile Rock" was inspired by his listening to Jackie Ward's vocal on "Speedy Gonzales"). KTLA-TV (Channel 5) is the flagship station of the Warner Brothers television network. ... Your Hit Parade was a popular United States music radio and television program. ... Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales (or González), the fastest mouse in all Mexico, is an animated cartoon mouse from the Warner Brothers Looney Tunes series of cartoons. ... Pat Boone Pat Boone (born June 1, 1934) is a singer whose smooth style made him one of the most popular performers of the 1950s and 1960s. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born March 25, 1947) is a pop music singer, composer, and pianist, and is one of the most successful solo artists in popular music history. ... A hook is a musical idea, a passage or phrase, that is believed to be catchy and helps the song stand out, it is, meant to catch the ear of the listener (Covach 2005, p. ... Crocodile Rock is a song written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. ...

"A Wonderful Summer"

In 1963, songwriter-producer Perry Botkin needed a session singer to make a demo recording of "A Wonderful Summer," a song that he wrote with his co-writer and co-producer, Gil Garfield[2]. A now-married Jackie Ward agreed to record it in Gold Star Studios (three years later, Brian Wilson used the same studio to start work on the beginning of the landmark Beach Boys single "Good Vibrations"). After an experiment in which Botkin sped up the recording by wrapping splicing tape around the capstan of the recorder, he and Ward agreed that the finished recording (with bird and surf sound effects added) would not be just a demo but a recording to be released as a 45 revolutions-per-minute single. 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Brian Wilson, 1988 Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942, in Hawthorne, California) is an American pop musician, best known as a founding member of and the main producer, composer, and arranger for The Beach Boys. ... The Beach Boys 1976 album 15 big ones The Beach Boys are a pop music group formed in Hawthorne, California in 1961, whose popularity has lasted into the twenty-first century. ... For the human experience of good vibrations or good vibes see good vibrations, for the song by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, see Good Vibrations (Marky Mark song). ...

The "altered" recording resulted in the then 21-year-old woman sound like a high school girl; so Jackie Ward suggested changing her name on the record label to that of her daughter, Robin. That fall, "A Wonderful Summer" was released on Dot Records. Sales were spectacular, with over one million copies sold in the United States alone; the overwhelming popularity propelled the recording to the #14 position on Billboard magazine's "Hot 100" singles chart the week before the assassination of John F. Kennedy[3]. Dot Records was a American record label which was active between 1950 and 1977. ... Billboard can refer to: Billboard magazine Billboard (advertising) Billboard antenna In 3D computer graphics, to billboard is to rotate an object so that it faces the viewer. ... The Billboard Hot 100 is the main singles chart used by Billboard magazine. ... For other uses, see JFK (disambiguation) or John Kennedy (disambiguation). ...

An album followed, to limited success, before a duet with Wink Martindale, another Dot artist. "A Wonderful Summer" remains the only hit for "Robin Ward" on the Hot 100. Wink Martindale (born Winston Conrad Martindale on December 4, 1934 in Jackson, Tennessee, USA) is perhaps best known as a game show host for such classic shows as Gambit, Tic Tac Dough, High Rollers, and Debt, although he is also known in Internet circles for the occasional surrealistic comedy articles...

Session singing for television

While "Robin Ward" was disappearing from the record charts, Jackie Ward's session singing career was becoming quite lucrative. In the early to mid 1960s she was one of the stable of singers for The Red Skelton Show; at roughly the same time, she performed the same job for The Danny Kaye Show, and, later, The Carol Burnett Show. In the 1970s she worked similarly for The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The Red Skelton Show was a staple of American television for almost two decades, from the early 1950s through the early 1970s. ... Kaye entertaining U.S. troops at Sasebo, Japan, 25 Oct 1945 Danny Kaye (January 18, 1913 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, singer and comedian. ... The Carol Burnett Show was a sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Lyle Waggoner. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour was a variety show which ran on CBS from August 1971 until May 1974. ...

Her voice is heard in dozens of television theme songs, amongst which were Flipper, Batman, Love American Style, Maude (with Donny Hathaway providing the lead vocal), and The Partridge Family. She has sung in hundreds of television commercials, most notably those for Rice-a-Roni ("The San Francisco treat"). The term flipper has a number of meanings: Flipper is the name of several TV series and films featuring extremely intelligent bottlenose dolphins of the same name. ... Batman was the title of an exceptionally popular 1960s TV series based on the comic-book character Batman that aired on ABC TV for 2 1/2 seasons from 12 January 1966 to 14 March 1968. ... Love, American Style is an hour-long television anthology which originally aired between September 1969 and January 1974. ... For other uses, see Maude (disambiguation) Maude is a half-hour American television sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS network from September 12, 1972 until April 29, 1978. ... Donny Hathaway (October 1, 1945 in Chicago - January 13, 1979 in New York City) was an American soul musician best known for his duets with Roberta Flack. ... The opening titles, featuring animated partridge hatchlings, was created by artist Sandy Dvore. ... Generally speaking, advertising is the paid promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas by an identified sponsor. ...

The theme song was not the only recording that she did for The Partridge Family: she was one of a group of three women and four men to record all the music for television play and record release while "posing" as the Partridge Family (only two members of the TV series - Shirley Jones and David Cassidy - recorded with them, and Shirley Jones' voice was mixed so far back that she could be barely heard, if at all). Shirley Jones, in a still from the opening credits of The Partridge Family. ... David Cassidy, in a still from The Partridge Family. ...

Motion picture session singing

By her own estimate, Jackie Ward's voice can be heard in "maybe 800" films. Some of the more notable instances include her voice being dubbed over Natalie Wood's "singing" in The Great Race and Inside Daisy Clover, doing the same for Janet Leigh in American Dream, and providing the singing voice for Cindy Bear in Hey There! It's Yogi Bear!. Cover of the 2004 DVD release of The Great Race The Great Race is a 1965 semi-comical, semi-dramatic film directed by Blake Edwards, written by Blake Edwards and Arthur A. Ross, with music by Henry Mancini and cinematography by Russell Harlan. ... Inside Daisy Clover is a 1965 film with Ruth Gordon based upon a novel by Gavin Lambert. ... The American Dream is the idea (often associated with the Protestant work ethic) held by many in the United States of America that through hard work, courage and determination one can achieve prosperity. ...

Post "Robin Ward" recording acts and session singing

For much of the mid-to-late 1960s, Jackie Ward was a member of the Ray Conniff Singers, an ensemble that is most remembered for their #10 hit, "Somewhere My Love," from the motion picture Doctor Zhivago, in 1966. In the early 1970s, she was also a member of the Anita Kerr Singers, which won a Grand Gala Award in 1971 for their recording of "A House Is Not a Home." The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The Ray Conniff Singers were a vocal group established 1959 by composer-arranger-bandleader Ray Conniff (see his entry for more information). ... Doctor Zhivago ( Доктор Живаго ) is a novel by Boris Pasternak, which was also adapted by Robert Bolt into a 1965 epic film. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) is a common year starting on Friday (click for link to calendar). ... A House is not a Home is a film made in 1964 starring Shelley Winters, Robert Taylor, Cesar Romero and a young Raquel Welch. ...

After "A Wonderful Summer," she kept extremely busy with not only television and motion picture session work, but hundreds of recordings for the music industry, including backing Barbra Streisand on "Stoney End" (Streisand's first major hit); broadcast cast recordings of Hair, Grease, Annie, and Hello Dolly; and backup singing for dozens of major recording artists, including Nat "King" Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Gordon Lightfoot, The Carpenters, Cass Elliott, and Joan Baez. Barbra Streisand - Guilty Pleasures. ... Nat King Cole in The Blue Gardenia (1953) Nat King Cole (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965) was a hugely popular American singer and jazz musician. ... Harry Lillis Bing Crosby (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was one of the most popular and influential American singers and actors of the 20th century whose career flourished from 1926 until his death in 1977. ... Francis Albert Sinatra (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer who is considered by many to have been the finest male vocalist of all time. ... Barbra Streisand - Guilty Pleasures. ... Gordon Lightfoot, Gords Gold Gordon Meredith Lightfoot, CC , O.Ont , LL.D (born November 17, 1938) is a Canadian folk singer, composer, lyricist and poet. ... Karen and Richard Carpenter This article is about a musical group. ... Mama Cass Elliot (September 19, 1941 _ July 29, 1974), born Ellen Naomi Cohen, was a noted American singer who performed with The Mamas & the Papas. ... Joan Baezs 1975 bestseller Diamonds & Rust. ...