Diane Renay (born July 13, 1945), born Renee Diane Kushner, is an American pop singer, best known for her 1964 hit song, "Navy Blue".
One of the best teen singers of her era, Renee Diane Kushner was an only child from South Philadelphia, with a mother inclined to vicariously living the glamorous career she never had through her daughter and a father who owned a jewelry store and knew lots of prominent local folks. As a child, Renee constantly sang around the house to records, radio or TV - she would sing the grocery list if given the chance - and in 1958, at age 12, she had a few voice lessons with Artie Singer, a local bandleader and songwriter fresh from astounding success with "At the Hop" by Danny and the Juniors, a song he had co written, arranged and released on his own Singular label (leased to ABC-Paramount, it became the biggest hit of the entire year).
He recognized her talent but suggested she wait a few years until her voice matured a bit. At the time Renay attended Northeast High School at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She couldn't wait that long. At 14 she recorded a doo wop-style demo of James F. Hanley's '30s tune "Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart," recruiting four boys from school to do backing vocals. Though Renee kept mostly to herself and had few close friends, she craved attention.
At 15 she entered a teen beauty pageant, placing second runner-up. Record producer/songwriter Pete DeAngelis was a frequent customer at the Kushners' family jewelry store, and Renay's parents arranged for her to audition for him. DeAngelis, impressed with her talents, got Renay signed to the Atco Records label. Under the new stage name Diane Renay, she released her first single, "Little White Lies", in 1962, but it failed to chart nationally, as did the follow-up, "Tender", and Atco dropped her from the label.
However, Bob Crewe, who had written and produced material for Renay's second recording session, then signed her to a new recording contract whereby he would write and produce records for her. Under Crewe's guidance and signed to the 20th Century label, Renay, then 17 years old, released her biggest hit, "Navy Blue", in late 1963. The song told the story of a girl, lonely for her steady boyfriend away from home in the U.S. Navy and anxious to see him again. "Navy Blue", composed by Crewe with Bud Rehak and Eddie Rambeau, became a national smash, reaching No. 6 on the Hot 100 on 14-21 March 1964, and soaring to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. The song was followed by Renay's debut album, also titled Navy Blue.
Renay followed this up in the spring with the equally attractive "Kiss Me, Sailor" by Rambeau and Rehak, which seemed to recall both "Popsicles and Icicles" by the Murmaids and "It's My Party" by Leslie Gore in some very attractive ways, and which made the Top 30. With high school off her to-do list, Diane experienced the summer of her life, making concert appearances throughout North America, cozying up to Bobby Rydell at the New York World's Fair, sharing a dressing room with The Supremes in Atlantic City and opening for The Rolling Stones at the San Antonio, Texas "Teen Fair" during the "bad boy" Brit band's first U.S. tour (not exactly smitten with them, she was a fan of the "cleaner" Beatles, who she considered the "opposite" of the Stones).
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| Renay with The Rolling Stones |
She later moved to MGM Records, and then to Atco and NewVoice (owned by Crewe), with a similar lack of success, although she did leave behind a girl-punk classic at MGM in the guise of "Watch Out, Sally," on which she affected a much louder, almost punkish delivery. Backed by a fuzztone guitar and driven by a Bo Diddley beat, it might've opened up a whole new career for Renay, if it had come out a few years later -- as it was, the song was ignored.
Renay moved to the Fontana label and attempted a comeback with covers of "Yesterday" and "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", but these also failed to chart. After jumping from label to label she hung on until 1969 before finally calling it a day. Diane was just 23 when she retired. She was burned out from travelling and also abhorred flying, She married, settled down, had a daughter named Heather and elected to remain home to raise her.
In 1988 she recorded a disco remake of "Navy Blue" which in the past few years has become extremely popular on Internet radio. In 1994 Marginal Records unofficially released “The Very Best Of Diane Renay”.
In 2001 she released Diane Renay Sings Some Things Old and Some Things New, a double-CD compilation album of her work (including many previously unreleased tracks) from the 1960s through the 1990s.
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic & Way Back Attack)