Mindy Carson

Born July 16, 1927, Carson grew up in the Bronx, graduating from James Monroe High School.{{cite news|last1=Heimer|first1=Mel|title=My New York|newspaper=Las Cruces Sun-News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3276316/las_cruces_sunnews|agency=Las Cruces Sun-News|date=August 28, 1952|page=4|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=September 22, 2015}} {{Open access}} After graduation, she took a position as typist and stenographer,{{cite news|last1=Lanigan|first1=Bob|title=TV Review|newspaper=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3276419/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle|agency=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=August 29, 1951|page=17|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=September 22, 2015}} {{Open access}} and she worked at a candy company.{{cite magazine|title=Ladylike Torch Singer|magazine=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IkkEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Mindy+Carson%22&pg=PA132|date=September 26, 1949|volume=27|issue=13|pages=132–36|accessdate=September 23, 2015}}

In 1946, while still in her teens, Carson won an audition to the radio program Stairway to the Stars. This gave her a chance to perform for eight months in 1947,{{cite news|title=Mindy Carson's 5-Yr. NBC Pact|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kUUEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Mindy+Carson%22&pg=PA16|accessdate=23 September 2015|agency=Billboard|date=August 20, 1949|page=16}} with Paul Whiteman's band{{cite news|title=Army to Sponsor Mindy Carson On WIBA|newspaper=The Capital Times |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3276190/the_capital_times|agency=The Capital Times|date=August 17, 1950|page=28|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=September 22, 2015}} {{Open access}} and singer Martha Tilton, stars of the program. The first recording Carson appeared on was "Rumors Are Flying/The Whole World Is Singing My Song" with the Harry Cool Orchestra on Signature Records. She also released one disc with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and then signed with Musicraft, releasing four discs there.

None of these early recordings attracted any attention but she did receive much radio exposure. She was heard on Guy Lombardo's syndicated program in the late 1940s and her own variety program which began on the CBS Network in 1949. She also had her own thrice-weekly program, sponsored by the U.S. Army, in 1950. She was widely promoted as one of the guests on the November 5, 1950 premiere of NBC's The Big Show, hosted by Tallulah Bankhead.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUoyloCGlWzGUj3TLE_V9pq52dQit0Ja

Beginning in 1949, Carson was a regular for two years on Florian Zabach's NBC television variety program. On December 30, 1952 she began the Mindy Carson Show, sponsored by Embassy cigarettes, on NBC.{{cite news|title=Mindy Carson's Radio, TV Schedule Jammed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DCAEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Mindy+Carson%22&pg=PA10|accessdate=September 23, 2015|agency=Billboard|date=December 20, 1952|page=6}}

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ICarson signed with RCA Victor in 1949. The initial several records she cut for the label failed to sell but the success of Eileen Barton's novelty hit "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd've Baked a Cake" prompted RCA to try a similar recording for her. Her recording of "Candy and Cake" was backed with "My Foolish Heart" and the record became a rare two-sided hit. Follow-up records failed to sell and Carson was dropped from RCA in 1952.

Carson then went to Columbia Records, and her duet with Guy Mitchell, "Cause I Love You That's-A-Why", reached #25 on the Billboard. She also guest-starred on ABC's 1957 series The Guy Mitchell Show. "All the Time and Everywhere", a big hit in the United Kingdom for Dickie Valentine, went nowhere for Carson and other U.S. recording artists. A cover of The Gaylords' big hit "Tell Me You're Mine" charted at No. 22, and a few others made the top 30 in 1952, 1953 and 1954.

Her song "Memories Are Made of This" with the Ray Conniff Orchestra was issued in 1955.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bigfm.de/lyrics/ray-conniff-conniff-s-ray-orchestra-carlson-mindy-mindy-carson-columbians-1/memories-are-made-of-this|title=Memories Are Made Of This|accessdate=2015-11-05|work=Bigfm.de|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222122825/http://www.bigfm.de/lyrics/ray-conniff-conniff-s-ray-orchestra-carlson-mindy-mindy-carson-columbians-1/memories-are-made-of-this|archivedate=2015-12-22}}

In August 1955, she scored a hit when her recording of "Wake the Town and Tell the People" reached No. 13, despite the fact that the trends in popular music were moving to rock and roll and like many of her contemporaries she did not have much feel for the format. Carson had a minor hit with "The Fish", the single prior to "Wake The Town...", which was a light rocker based on a proposed dance craze. The record appeared in both the Cashbox and Music Vendor retail surveys. She had only one more hit with a white R&B cover, Ivory Joe Hunter's "Since I Met You Baby" in 1957. Carson was dropped from Columbia in 1958. She released three more singles on Philips, Joy, and W&G Records before retiring from recording in 1960. Carson also recorded two LPs, Mindy Carson and Orchestra, and Baby, Baby, Baby, both based around the gimmick of every song having a variation of the same title.

In 1958, she appeared on Broadway in The Body Beautiful by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, their first musical collaboration. Carson returned to Broadway in the 1960s in two comedies, Mary, Mary (1961–64) and Dinner at Eight (1966-67).{{cite web|title=Mindy Carson|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Person/Detail/93164/Mindy-Carson|website=Playbill Vault|accessdate=September 23, 2015}}

In 1949, Carson became the youngest performer to receive top billing at New York City's Copacabana nightclub. She also performed at clubs in New Orleans, Baltimore, and other cities.

Carson married music publisher Eddie Joy in September 1949. They had three daughters: Jenny, Jody, and Cathy.{{cite news|last1=Judson|first1=Beth|title=Speaking of Families|newspaper=Independent |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3276267/long_beach_independent|agency=Long Beach Independent|date=April 15, 1954|page=49|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=September 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}{{cite news|last1=MacPherson|first1=Virginia|title=Mindy Carson Doesn't Like Playing Role of a Cinderella|newspaper=The Capital Journal |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/3277122/daily_capital_journal|agency=Daily Capital Journal|date=October 3, 1949|page=7|via=Newspapers.com|accessdate=September 22, 2015}} {{Open access}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/mindy.html JC Marion's Interlude Era: Mindy Carson]

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Category:Living people

Category:American women singers

Category:Singers from New York City

Category:RCA Victor artists

Category:Traditional pop music singers

Category:Date of birth missing (living people)

Category:Musicians from the Bronx

Category:21st-century American women

Category:Signature Records artists

Category:Columbia Records artists

Category:1927 births