Carolyn Stern (December 26, 1939 – Dec. 13, 2022) better known by her stage name Cathy Carroll, was an American pop singer.
Carolyn Stern was born in New Rochelle, New York The Wikipedia article on Carroll says that she was born in 1939, but both Billboard and Radio Television Daily reported in 1963 that she was 17 years old, which means that she would have been born closer to 1946.
She first recorded for the Triodex label in 1961, with members of the Earls and the 4 Evers singing backing vocals. Her single "Jimmy Love" reached #11 on the WLS Chicago survey and was a Top 10 hit in several cities."Jimmy Love" is notable not only for being a teen tragedy recording but also for its twist ending. The song leads you to think that it's about a wedding, but then you find out that the girl is actually at the funeral of her fiancé, who died when a tree fell on him during a storm.Billboard reported that Carroll appeared on the Bob Braun TV hop in Cincinnati to promote "Jimmy Love" and also traveled from Chicago to Detroit to Cincinnati to New York to pitch the record and to record promo spots for disk jockeys.
She later recorded "Poor Little Puppet" at Warner Brothers, which became her only Billboard Hot 100 entry, peaking at No. 91. Regionally, Carroll's version of "Poor Little Puppet" was a Top 10 hit in several cities, including Seattle, San Diego, Cleveland, and Vancouver.Billboard said that, despite Carroll's many good records, "Poor Little Puppet" was "easily her best." The background vocals were provided by the Earls, who had a hit of their own in 1962 with "Remember Then."She also recorded a cover of Johnnie Ray's "Cry", and cut further recordings in the early 1960s for the Philips, Cheer, Musicor, and Dot labels.
Apart from "Jimmy Love" and "Poor Little Puppet," Carroll's singles had only regional success. "Every Leaf That Falls" (1961) charted in a number of Northeastern cities and saw some action in San Francisco. Carroll's cover version of the Cliff Richard song ”The Young Ones” (1962) charted on at least 10 radio stations across the country, particularly around Massachusetts. "But You Lied" (1962) charted in Vancouver, Toronto, and Philadelphia. "I'm Available" (1963), Carroll's remake of the 1957 Margie Rayburn hit, charted in Montreal.
Carroll moved to Philips Records in 1963 and signed with the cosmetics firm Coty to serve as "Miss Teen-Age America" in a 100-city tour. In 1965 she moved to the Musicor label where "Here's to Our Love" charted in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. (That year she also released an unsuccessful answer song to Brian Hyland's "Ginny Come Lately,""Johnny Come Lately.")Her stay with Musicor was short lived, and by the end of 1965, she had signed with the Rotate label, which was distributed by Bell Records. In 1966, she moved to Dot Records and cut her final solo single.
Carroll was portrayed as the "typical American girl" and went on a sponsored tour of 100 radio stations. In 1967 she married Bob Halley, who wrote and produced the songs for her Dot and Rotate Records releases, as well as inking the orchestrations. Under the name Bob and Cathy, the duo recorded a single for Mercury Records in 1967, "Just Imagine” b/w "Clyde and Dale". " She retired from music in the 1970s to raise her two children, a son (Ronald Scott) born in 1968 and a daughter (Jennifer) born in 1976.
In the 2000s, the Cheer label issued a 24-track CD of her complete works. It was announced on her Facebook page that she died Dec. 13, 2022.
(Edited
from an article by Greg Adams @ the MusicWeird blog, Wikipedia, Discogs &
Cathy Carroll Facebook)