Previous posts for November 11th are here: Ernestine Anderson (2019) , Ernest Ansermet (2020), Jon Batiste (2021)
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Marlene VerPlanck (11 November 1933 –14 January 2018) was an American jazz and pop vocalist whose body of work centered on big band jazz, the American songbook, and cabaret.
You Know the Voice
She recorded thousands of jingles, often for low pay, although her fortunes changed when she sang an arrangement of the Campbell’s Soup "M'm M'm Good" song, which became widely known.Other notable jingles she recorded included "Nationwide is on your side" and "Weekends were made for Michelob". – adapted from Wikipedia
Jingle work demanded that Marlene always sing with clean and precise diction, and these were hallmarks of Marlene’s style as she developed into one of the leading interpreters of the American songbook. – Karen Fishman, “The Billy and Marlene VerPlanck Collection,” at blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2019/09/the-billy-and-marlene-verplanck-collection/
Marlene VerPlanck avoided singles
And made her living single jingles.
Her jingles found a special niche
And products she was paid to pitch
Made a profit from the choice
Of using her distinctive voice.
Because of her we understood
That Campbell’s soups are “M'm! M'm! Good!,”
And with a song she certified
That “Nationwide is on your side.”
But this is not the Ms. VerPlanck
That I am here today to thank ---
Instead I’m here to praise the things
She brings to standards that she sings,
Where elegance and sharp acuity,
Avoiding flash and superfluity,
Illuminate the song's intention
Without her ego’s intervention.
Brava, dear poet.
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