Carol Connors (born November 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. She is perhaps best known as the lead vocalist on the Teddy Bears' single, "To Know Him Is To Love Him", which was written by her bandmate Phil Spector.
Connors was born Annette Kleinbard in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her parents were Polish Jews. She lost many relatives in the Holocaust. When she was five, the family moved to Los Angeles where she later attended Fairfax High School. While there she met songwriter and record producer Phil Spector, who was dating her friend. After hearing her voice, Spector wrote a song for her. Following graduation from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, California.
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Spector became obsessed with "To Know Him Is to Love Him", a song he had written for his group, the Teddy Bears. After a hasty audition at Era Records, which offered to finance a studio session, the Teddy Bears – Phil Spector, Marshall Leib, Harvey Goldstein, lead singer Annette Kleinbard and last minute recruit, drummer Sandy Nelson, recorded the song at Gold Star Studios at a cost of $75. Released on Era's Doré label in August 1958, it took two months before "To Know Him Is to Love Him" began to get airplay.
It went on to become a global hit. The record stayed in the Billboard Hot 100 for 23 weeks, in the Top Ten for 11 of those weeks, and commanded the number 1 chart position for three weeks. It also reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. It sold over two and a half million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Although subsequent releases by the Teddy Bears on the Imperial label were well-recorded soft pop, they did not sell, and within a year of the debut, Spector disbanded the group. Their demise was hastened by Kleinbard being seriously injured in 1960 in a car accident.
Some
years later she legally changed her name to Carol Connors, because she did not
want her first name to be associated with Mousketeer Annette Funicello. She
co-wrote (with Ayn Robbins and Bill Conti) "Gonna Fly Now", the theme
song from the film Rocky, which earned her an Academy Award nomination. Carol
Connors sang the theme to the film Orca, called "We Are One".
Connors
continued to write many songs and live the Hollywood dream. She wrote
“Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams,” sung by Dionne Warwick for the show
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. She dated many celebrities, including actor
Robert Culp, whom she describes as “one of the loves of my life,” as well as
David Janssen. It was her love for Culp that inspired Connors to write her hit song
“With You I’m Born Again,” sung by Billy Preston and Syreeta Wright. The song
has sold millions and has been covered by many artists, including Mariah Carey
and John Legend, and has gone on to become a staple at weddings.
Other
songwriting credits include the 1994 title track "For All Mankind" on
the debut album of Italian singer Guendalina Cariaggi, which was used as the
theme song for a documentary produced by Pier Quinto and Lara Cariaggi, on the
legends of soccer and the FIFA World Cup; for "Madonna in the
Mirror", the finale song on A&E's 15 Films About Madonna; and three
songs – "Condi, Condi", "I Think of You so Fondly", and
"Chill, Condi, Chill"– for Courting Condi (2008).
Connors also wrote and performed songs for several films. The 1967 beach-party film Catalina Caper features her song "Book of Love" (not to be confused with the Monotones' song), co-written with Roger Christian, which she performed backed by the Cascades. She co-composed (with Ayn Robbins) three songs for the soundtrack of the 1977 Disney film, The Rescuers: "Tomorrow Is Another Day", "The Journey" and "Someone's Waiting for You". In 1983 Connors was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award, for the 'Worst Original Song' for "It's Wrong for Me to Love You", from Butterfly, which she co-composed with Ennio Morricone.The 1.5 meter tall Connors, who is notorious for arriving at gala events wearing high heels and then changing into slippers after the red carpet, says she got her height from her father.
Connors
lives in a house nestled in the heights of Beverly Hills. She refers to it as
“the house that Rocky built” after her colossal hit song “Gonna Fly Now,” which
she wrote with Bill Conti and Ayn Robbins.A Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars
was dedicated to her in 1999.
In 2011, she skydived and performed a concert to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.She was also awarded the Hollywood F.A.M.E Lifetime Award for Music Composer and Arranger. Connors is one of the woman pioneers of music for film and. She has been nominated twice for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, as well as nominated for five Emmys, one Grammy and two Golden Globes. Connors has built a niche for herself in the music world and hasn’t slowed down one bit.Carol continues with a very active and successful professional life in song-writing, charitable work and patriotic events.
(Edited from Wikipedia & The Jerusalem Post)