{{Short description|American singer (born 1944)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Linda November | image = LindaNovember_2014.jpeg | alt = | imagesize = | caption = Linda November 2014 | birth_name = Linda Ellen November | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1944|10|16}}<ref name=fb>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1276986394|title=Linda November's Facebook page|access-date=August 14, 2011|publisher=Facebook|archive-date=August 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815124511/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1276986394|url-status=dead}}</ref> | birth_place = East New York, Brooklyn | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --> | death_place = | other_names = | known_for = Advertising jingles, such as the Meow Mix Theme | occupation = Pianist and singer | spouse = Artie Schroeck }}
'''Linda Ellen November'''<ref name=ronnie>{{cite web|url=http://www.jerseygirlssing.com/Ronnie%20Allen%20Show%20--%20Linda%20November%20and%20Artie%20Schroeck.mp3|format=audio|publisher=Ronnie Allen Show|title=Linda November and Artie Schroeck (contains clips of singing)|access-date=June 15, 2011|date=December 2009}}</ref> (born October 16, 1944)<ref name=ronnie/> is an American singer who has sung tens of thousands of commercial jingles.<ref name=sun/> She was the voice of the singing cat in the Meow Mix commercials,<ref name=nym/> sang the jingle "Galaxy Glue" in the 1981 film ''The Incredible Shrinking Woman'', the "Coke and a Smile" jingle in the classic Mean Joe Greene Super Bowl commercial,<ref name=aftra/> and has won many Clio Awards for her work on television and radio.<ref name=sun>{{cite news|url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/oct/30/lots-songs-her-heart/|date=October 30, 2008|work=Las Vegas Sun|author=Gorman, Tom|access-date=June 15, 2011|title=Lots of songs in her heart}}</ref><ref name=clio/>
Her voice can also be heard on many pop songs, as she was a regular backup singer for artists such as Frankie Valli, Burt Bacharach,<ref>{{cite news|work=Independent|date=July 15, 1971|title=Bacharach at Greek Theatre|author=Reese, Preston}}</ref> Engelbert Humperdinck, and Neil Diamond.<ref name=nym/> In the 1970s, she was one of the main singers in the disco group Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps, which charted with the Top 40 hit "Baby Face" in 1976. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she was a regular performer in Atlantic City at The Grand and Harrah's, with her husband, composer and arranger Artie Schroeck. As of 2011, she works as a piano accompanist in Las Vegas, Nevada.
==Biography==
===Early years (1940s–1960s)=== November was born in Brooklyn, the older of two children to Eleanore and Julius November. Her father was an attorney to clients such as boxer Floyd Patterson, and her younger brother Philip became an attorney as well.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1072336/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104113513/http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1072336/index.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|date=March 13, 1961|magazine=Sports Illustrated|title=Will the Tiger Be Back?|access-date=June 17, 2011|author=Rogin, Gilbert}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=Charleston Gazette-Mail|date=August 28, 1960|title=Floyd asking for million|author=Gross, Milton|page=5C}}</ref> She started her career in music as a concert pianist, playing piano from the age of five. However, she lost interest in the piano as a teenager and turned to singing instead, helped by the fact that she learned she had perfect pitch.<ref name=ronnie/> She attended Thomas Jefferson High School, then The High School of Music & Art, and then from the age of 15 began studying voice with Beverly Johnson at Juilliard. She developed a strong soprano voice, described by ''The Dallas Morning News'' as "high, strong, and unwontedly pure".<ref name=dmn/>
thumb|left|150px|Linda November 1963At the age of 16, she got a lucky break because of a visit to a podiatrist. The doctor had an office at Broadway and 42nd Street, in what had been a fashionable Knickerbocker Hotel suite in the early 1900s, the New York residence of opera singer Enrico Caruso (1873–1921). So the doctor would often entertain visitors who were there to see the Caruso memorabilia. While she herself was at the office, November met another patient who had contacts in the music industry, and she sang an impromptu audition. The patient was impressed, and put her in touch with one of his contacts, manager Gus Schirmer (of the Schirmer Music publishing family), who was looking for "pretty sopranos" for his summer musicals.<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=dmn/> Schirmer introduced her to Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, who became her mentor, and through Schirmer, November also auditioned for other producers such as Lawrence Kasha. She obtained work as a performer in the 1963 summer musical season in Dallas, Texas, but despite many auditions, could never land a job in Broadway theatre (according to November, this was because she never had the exact look that a particular show was looking for).<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=dmn>{{cite news|author=Rosenfield, John|title=Linda November and Ralph Dunn|date=June 28, 1963|work=Dallas Morning News}}</ref> Then Schirmer got her a job singing at an industrial musical for Ford Motor Company, where she met many other successful musicians, singers, and composers such as Ray Charles. He began incorporating her into sessions with the Ray Charles Singers, a group of performers with a rotating membership that would sing in close harmonies, often on productions with singer and television personality Perry Como, or as backup singers for other recordings.<ref name=ronnie/> This launched November's career as a studio singer, as she worked on a contract basis for many different productions. From 1962 to 1967 November would rotate in and out as part of the Ray Charles Singers, sometimes seen on Perry Como's ''Kraft Music Hall'' variety program. She can also be heard as a backup singer on some Frank Sinatra recordings, such as the soprano voice in the background of the 1967 song, "The World We Knew".<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=nym/>{{Clear}}
===Jingle singer (1960s–1990s)=== Over the course of her 32 years as a jingle singer, November sang approximately 22,000 jingles which were played on the television and radio.<ref name=sun/> In the 1970s, it was estimated that 75% of the jingles that could be heard on the airways were sung by no more than 30 people, and November was known as the "Jingle Queen".<ref name=nym/> In several unusual jingles, she had to sing with different voices. She once sang as a person underwater, and for Chicken of the Sea, a brand of tuna, she sang like a chicken underwater.<ref name=nym>{{cite news|work=New York|date=April 23, 1979|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeECAAAAMBAJ&q=%22linda+november%22&pg=PA52|access-date=June 15, 2011|title=Linda, Queen of the Jingle – and Her Friends|author=Masello, Robert}}</ref> Her most notable commercial was in an ad campaign for Meow Mix, where she was the voice ("Meow meow meow meow...") of a singing cat. The idea came from Ron Travisano at the advertising agency of Della Femina Travisano and Partners, who had the account with Ralston Purina in 1976. Travisano put together film footage with editor Jay Gold, looping images of a cat to make it look like it was singing. Working from the film, Tom McFaul of the jingle house Lucas/McFaul composed music to fit, and Linda November sang the meowing melody.<ref>{{cite news|work=New York Magazine|date=April 23, 1979|title=Jingle Giants|author=Gorfain, Louis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeECAAAAMBAJ&q=jingle+giants&pg=PA52|access-date=June 19, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jinglelady.com/|title=Jingle Lady|year=2011|access-date=June 10, 2011|author=November, Linda|publisher=jinglelady.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Teaching the Pussy to Sing|url=http://www.tommcfaul.com/admusic/pussy.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021003015132/http://www.tommcfaul.com/admusic/pussy.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=October 3, 2002|author=McFaul, Tom|publisher=tommcfaul.com|date=April 1, 2002|access-date=June 10, 2011}}</ref> The campaign was a major success, spawned 81 other different commercials, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in residuals.<ref name=sun/> Linda November was also one of the singers for Coca-Cola's "Have a Coke and a Smile" campaign, heard most famously on the 1979 Mean Joe Greene commercial, considered one of the top Super Bowl commercials of all time.<ref name=aftra>{{cite news|quote=Singers on the commercial are Jim Campbell, Don Thomas, Liz Corrigan, Shellie Littman, Arlene Martell, and Linda November|title=Singers' Seminar explores steps to success|url=http://www.aftra.org/documents/FALL2010_STAND_FINAL%281%29.pdf|date=Fall 2010|volume=43|number=2|work=Stand By|publisher=AFTRA|location=New York|access-date=June 17, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101025153812/http://aftra.org/documents/FALL2010_STAND_FINAL%281%29.pdf|archive-date=October 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Top 10 Super Bowl Commercials of All Time: Coke's Mean Joe Greene, #3|publisher=Warner Brothers|access-date=June 17, 2011|url=http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2011/02/top_10_super_bowl_commercials.php#cokes_mean_joe_greene}}</ref>
===Other projects (1970s–present)=== [[File:ValliNovemberSchroeck.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Linda November with Frankie Valli (left) and husband Artie Schroeck (right) in 2010]] In the 1970s, along with providing her voice for commercials, November also recorded pop songs on the radio. She, Tony Orlando, and Toni Wine sang "Candida", in a group surreptitiously entitled "Dawn". Tony Orlando was a recording industry executive at the time, for a competing label, April-Blackwood. So to avoid a conflict, the group was entitled "Dawn" without Orlando's name. However, the song became a major hit, along with its followup "Knock Three Times" (also featuring backup by November and Toni Wine). To go on tour, Orlando then asked two other session singers, Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, to become the official backup singers, in their own "Dawn" group, so they could tour as Tony Orlando and Dawn, though the voices on the songs of the original album were still of November and Toni Wine, not Hopkins and Vincent.<ref name=ronnie/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/toni_wine/|title=Toni Wine: Songwriter Interviews|date=May 8, 2007|access-date=June 18, 2011|publisher=Song Facts}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://toniwine.com/vegas_1.html|publisher=Toni Wine|access-date=June 18, 2011|date=September 12, 2003|title=Toni's Vegas Debut 2003|author=Wine, Toni}}</ref> A few years later, November was again on the charts as part of the group Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps, an assemblage of studio musicians put together by Harold Wheeler. They released two albums, with their biggest hit being a disco version of the 1926 song "Baby Face". It reached #14 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in late 1976, and #12 in the UK.<ref>{{cite book |title= Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=282}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2004 |publisher=Record Research |page=632}}</ref>
{{listen |filename=Let's_Do_It.ogg |title="Let's Do It"|pos=left|description=2011 performance of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love" by Linda November and Artie Schroeck in Nevada}}In the 1980s and 1990s, November could often be found singing in Atlantic City, such as at Gatsby's at The Grand, and then starting in 1990, at the Harrah's Atrium Lounge, with Artie Schroeck. They had met in the 1960s while working on Frankie Valli recordings, but had both been married to other people at the time. In 1988 they became a couple, and on January 17, 1997, they married.<ref name=fb/><ref name=sun/> Linda November then retired from her career as a jingle singer, and she and Schroeck directed a production saluting quirky band leader Spike Jones, "The New City Slickers Present a Tribute to Spike Jones".<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/24/nyregion/atlantic-city-at-the-casinos-023531.html|title=Atlantic City; At the Casinos|date=March 24, 1996|access-date=June 15, 2011|work=New York Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Celebrating Spike Jones at Harrah's|date=September 21, 1997|author=Alexander, Randy|work=The Times}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=With Honors / Atlantic County|work=Press of Atlantic City|date=October 20, 1997}}</ref>
In 2001, November and her husband moved to Las Vegas. As of 2011, she continues to work there as a piano and keyboard accompanist, performing the occasional show with Schroeck.<ref name=sun/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://m.lvsun.com/news/2009/jan/22/long-melodious-career/|title=A long, melodious career|author=Bosshart, Becky|date=January 22, 2009|access-date=June 26, 2011|work=Las Vegas Sun}}</ref>
==Awards== * 1972, "Most Valuable Studio Player", NARAS, New York Chapter<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=Billboard|date=December 23, 1972|title=NARAS picks its MVP's}}</ref> * 1974, Taystee Bread (Best Radio, Clio Award, 1974)<ref name=clio/> * 1976, Lady Long Legs (Best Radio, Clio Award, 1976)<ref name=clio>{{cite web|url=http://www.clioawards.com/archive/results.cfm|title=Clio archive|access-date=June 15, 2011|publisher=Clio Awards|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611165524/http://www.clioawards.com/archive/results.cfm|archive-date=June 11, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> * 1978, United States Army (Best Television/Cinema, Clio Award, 1978)<ref name=clio/> * 1979, "Mean Joe Greene" commercial for Coca-Cola (Best Television/Cinema, Clio Award, 1980)<ref name=aftra/><ref name=clio/>
==Notable works== Linda November has sung tens of thousands of jingles, with her most notable one being the Meow Mix Theme ("Meow meow meow meow . . . . ") in 1976 for Meow Mix cat food. She has also worked in many other parts of the industry as a backup singer, and contributed many solo efforts, such as singing the lullaby in the 1971 animated film, ''The World of Hans Christian Andersen'',<ref>{{cite book|title=The animated movie guide|author=Beck, Jerry|year=2005|page=[https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/318 318]|isbn=1-55652-591-5|publisher=A Cappella Books|location=Chicago, Illinois|url=https://archive.org/details/animatedmoviegui0000beck/page/318}}</ref> the main theme "I'm Comin' Home" in the 1973 film ''The Devil in Miss Jones'',<ref>{{Discogs master |522918|name=The Devil In Miss Jones (Original Soundtrack Recording)|type=album }}</ref> and the "Galaxy Glue" jingle in the 1981 film ''The Incredible Shrinking Woman''.<ref name=tcm>{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79183/the-incredible-shrinking-woman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703083540/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/79183/the-incredible-shrinking-woman|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 3, 2021|access-date=June 15, 2011|title=The Incredible Shrinking Woman – Overview|publisher=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/24722/The-Incredible-Shrinking-Woman/credits|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104154920/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/24722/The-Incredible-Shrinking-Woman/credits|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 4, 2012|department=Movies & TV Dept.|work=The New York Times|date=2012|title=The Incredible Shrinking Woman – Cast, Crew, Director and Awards|access-date=June 15, 2011}}</ref>
===Jingles=== ; Drinks * Coca-Cola, 1979, "Coke and a smile"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/05/27/garden/rental-weekend-shopping-group-effort.html|title='Rental Weekend Shopping' Group Effort|date=May 27, 1981|work=New York Times|author=Ferretti, Fred|access-date=June 15, 2011}}</ref> (see also Mean Joe Greene ad) * Coca-Cola, "I’d like to teach the world to sing"<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=sun/> * Diet Coke "Just for the joy of it" <ref name=sun/> * Diet Pepsi, "Now you see it, now you don't, Diet Pepsi, 1 small calorie, now you see it, now you don't"<ref name=ronnie/> * Miller beer, "You've got the time, we've got the beer"<ref name=ronnie/> * Budweiser, "When you say Bud, you've said it all"<ref name=ronnie/>
; Foods * Burger King, "Have It Your Way"<ref name=ronnie/> * Chef Boyardee, "Boy oh Boyardee, boy oh boyardee"<ref name=ronnie/> * Chicken of the Sea<ref name=nym/> * Doublemint, "Single most favorite double in the world is double good doublemint gum"<ref name=ronnie/> * Kraft Foods, "America spells cheese K-R-A-F-T"<ref name=ronnie/> * "M&M is a world of fun, a world of chocolate joy"<ref name=ronnie/> * McDonald's, "You Deserve a Break Today", "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese..."<ref name=ronnie/> * "Nabisco"<ref name=ronnie/> * Hellmann's and Best Foods, "Bring out the Hellmann's, bring out the best"<ref name=ronnie/> * "Snickers, Satisfies you"<ref name=ronnie/> * "Wrigley's Spearmint Gum gum gum"<ref name=ronnie/>
; Transportation * Buick, "Wouldn't you really rather have a Buick?"<ref name=ronnie/> * Chevrolet, "The heartbeat of America"<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=sun/> * Ford Motor Company, "Have you driven a Ford lately?"<ref name=ronnie/> * Greyhound Lines, "Go Greyhound, and leave the driving to us"<ref name=ronnie/> [[File:LindaNovember-Raindrops.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Gold record presented to Linda November for her work as a backup singer on the 1969 song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"]] ; Other products * AT&T, "Reach out and touch someone"<ref name=ronnie/> * Exxon, "Running smooth and silent"<ref name=ronnie/> * General Electric, “We bring good things to life”<ref name=sun/> * Meow Mix, "Meow, meow, meow, meow..." ("Her masterpiece, the one jingle that she herself selects as the apotheosis of her craft...")<ref>Masello, Robert (April 23, 1979). [https://books.google.com/books?id=IeECAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA52&dq=new+york+jingle+queen "Linda, Queen of the Jingles—and Her Friends"]. ''New York''. p. 52.</ref> * Prudential Financial, "Get a piece of the rock"<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=sun/> * Windex, "Shine Windex Shine, Windex lets you bring all the sun in"<ref name=ronnie/>
===Notable songs as backup singer=== * 1964, with The Ray Charles Singers, "Love Me with All Your Heart"<ref name=ronnie/> * 1967, with Frank Sinatra, "The World We Knew"<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=sun/><ref name=nym/> * 1968, with Valerie Simpson and Dionne Warwick, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose"<ref name=ronnie/><ref>{{cite news|title=Joking and singing, these two are harmonious pair|date=March 8, 1996|author=Lloyd, Jack|work=Philadelphia Inquirer}}</ref> * 1969, with B. J. Thomas, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" * 1970, with Tony Orlando, ("Candida", "Knock Three Times")<ref name=ronnie/> * 1971 (uncredited), with Barbra Streisand, "Stoney End"<ref name=ronnie/><ref name=ronnie2>{{cite web|url=https://forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com/2009/12/kent-kotal-more-on-radio-and-in-some.html|title=Forgotten Hits|date=December 29, 2009 |publisher=forgottenhits60s.blogspot.com|access-date=August 15, 2011}}</ref> * 1975, with Jimi Hendrix (posthumously) (''Crash Landing'') * 1976, with Gloria Gaynor, ("I've Got You Under My Skin"), on the ''I've Got You'' album (arranged by Meco Monardo) * 1976, with Engelbert Humperdinck ("After the Lovin'")<ref name=ronnie/> * 1976, as part of the Wing and a Prayer Fife and Drum Corps, "Baby Face"
==References== {{Reflist|2}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * {{discogs artist|artist=Linda November|name=Linda November}} * {{AllMusic |class=artist |id=p110284 |tab=Credits |label= |first=Linda |last=November |access-date=June 15, 2011 }} * {{IMDb name|id=1062731|name=Linda November}} * {{cite web|url=http://www.tommcfaul.com/admusic/meowmix.wav|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325133432/http://www.tommcfaul.com/admusic/meowmix.wav|url-status=usurped|archive-date=March 25, 2012|title=Meow Mix song|format=audio|publisher=tommcfaul.com|author=McFaul, Tom (composer)|author2=November, Linda (singer)|access-date=June 18, 2011}} * {{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRa67RTIYY|format=video|publisher=YouTube|title=Linda November and Artie Schroeck sing "I Love a Piano|access-date=June 21, 2011|date=November 2007}}
{{Authority control}} {{Good article}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:November, Linda}} Category:Living people Category:1944 births Category:Singers from Brooklyn Category:American women singers Category:Jewish women singers Category:American sopranos Category:The High School of Music & Art alumni Category:Thomas Jefferson High School (Brooklyn) alumni Category:21st-century American women