Kathy Linden

Marion Kathleen Londres (June 22, 1938 – 2024), known professionally as Kathy Linden,^[1] was an American pop singer from Moorestown Township, New Jersey.

Linden was born in Trenton, New Jersey on June 22, 1938,^[2] and grew up in Burlington, New Jersey. She scored two big hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 late in the 1950s. The first was "Billy", a song originally written in 1911; it hit number seven in 1958.^[3] The second was "Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye", a song written by a radio program director named Jack Vaughn; it rose to number eleven in 1959.^[3] Both singles were released on Felsted Records and featured Joe Leahy's backing orchestra. Linden was known for having a breathy, childlike voice, even as a married woman in her 20s.

Linden's talents appeared early. Her first public appearance was as a tap and ballet dancer when she was five years old. Since then, she acted in school plays and musicals, appeared in public pageants, played piano and violin in several local symphony orchestras, and with an all-girl string quintet called the Singing Strings.

She attended the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School in 1954, was a soprano soloist with the All State Chorus in 1955, and studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music.

As featured vocal soloist with the Singing Strings, she appeared in many well-known spots in Philadelphia and New Jersey. She also sang with several local bands.

At 19, she was discovered by record producer and trumpeter Joe Leahy when she auditioned for him. He was so intrigued with her sound that he recorded her and her first release was "It's Just My Luck to Be Fifteen." He transferred her recording contract to Felsted Records, a subsidiary of London Records which had just set up shop that year. She debuted on Felsted with "Billy".

"Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye" became an international hit, especially in Sweden, where Linden's version peaked at no 3, where it stayed for many weeks in September and October 1959. In 1959, she was married to David Simonton, and had a son.^[4][2]

Tras grabar más discos para Felsted y posteriormente para Monument y Capitol , algunos de los cuales se convirtieron en éxitos regionales, Linden se retiró del mundo del espectáculo en 1963 para dedicar más tiempo a su familia y otros intereses personales. En 2006 residía en Fallbrook, California. ^{[ 5 ]}

En 2015, Linden concedió su primera y única entrevista radiofónica desde su retiro. Le contó a Ronnie Allen, quien fuera entrevistador de Casey Kasem, que su vida había cambiado enormemente alrededor de 1980, cuando se convirtió al cristianismo y comenzó a escribir canciones inspiradoras, cantar y dirigir la alabanza en numerosas iglesias. En 1985, fue entrevistada y cantó en el programa de televisión Joy Program . En 1992, realizó una peregrinación a Israel y dirigió la alabanza en un barco en el Mar de Galilea . También dirigió la alabanza en prisiones de máxima y mínima seguridad del sur de California durante tres años.

En 2019, Linden grabó un nuevo álbum de canciones originales de inspiración country e instrumentales titulado The Love That's In My Heart , su primer lanzamiento en más de 55 años.

Linden murió en 2024. ^{[ 6 ] [ 7 ]}

• Sitio web oficial de Kathy Linden: kathylinden.com
• Entrevista radiofónica de Kathy Linden en 2015 con Ronnie Allen (investigador de Casey Kasem).