Brenda Mae Tarpley was born on December 11, 1944, at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the second of four children born to Annie Grayce Yarbrough and Ruben Lindsey Tarpley. Her father served in the United States Army for 11 years and then worked various labor jobs including carpentry, factory work and construction. Her mother also found factory work in cotton mills. When Tarpley was born, she was one month premature and weighed four pounds, 11 ounces. She was given the name, Brenda, by her mother and was nicknamed "Bootie Mae" by her father.
Ann-Margret Olsson was born on 28 April 1941, in Valsjöbyn, Krokom Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden, to Anna Regina (née Aronsson) and Carl Gustav Olsson, a native of Örnsköldsvik. She described Valsjöbyn as a small town of "lumberjacks and farmers high up near the Arctic Circle". Her father had emigrated to the United States but returned to Sweden in 1937 and married Anna Aronsson. After Ann-Margret's birth, Gustav wanted to emigrate again with the family.
The Angels were an American girl group best known for their 1963 No. 1 hit single "My Boyfriend's Back".
The Angels originated in New Jersey as the Starlets, consisting of sisters Barbara "Bibs" and Phyllis "Jiggs" Allbut, Bernadette Carroll, and Lynda Malzone. They had local hits and worked as backup singers in the studio. Linda Jansen replaced Malzone as lead singer, and the group eventually changed their name to the Angels. In 1963, they signed with Mercury Records' subsidiary Smash Records and released their biggest hit, "My Boyfriend's Back," which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold over one million copies.
Lesley Gore was born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York City, into a middle-class Jewish family. Her parents were Leo Goldstein and Ronny Gore. The family changed their surname to "Gore" soon after Leslie's birth. Her father was the owner of Peter Pan, a children's swimwear and underwear manufacturer, and later became a leading brand licensing agent in the apparel industry. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood. She also attended Sarah Lawrence College, graduating with a degree in American literature.
The McGuire sisters were born to Asa and Lillie (Fultz) McGuire in Middletown, Ohio, and grew up in Miamisburg near Dayton. Their mother, Lillie, was a minister of the Miamisburg First Church of God, where, as children, they sang in church at weddings, funerals, and revivals. When they started singing in 1935, the youngest sister, Phyllis, was four years old. Eventually, they sang at occasions outside church, and by 1949 were singing at military bases and veterans' hospitals, performing a more diverse repertoire than they had in church
Gormé was born in the Bronx to Sephardic Jewish parents Nessim Hasdai Gormezano and Fortuna "Fortunee" Gormezano. Her father was from Sicily and changed his name to Gormé when he arrived in the US. Both her parents were born in Turkey of Spanish descent, and Gormé grew up speaking English and Spanish.
After graduating from William Howard Taft High School, she attended night classes at City College.
Ed Sullivan Show appearances (1948-1971): https://epguides.com/EdSullivanShow/
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