Golden Hits Of The 60s”
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JOANIE SOMMERS
“JOHNNY GET ANGRY”
(Hal David, Sherman Edwards)
Warner Bros. 5275
No. 7 July 21, 1962
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One of Ms. Sommers’ LPs called her “The Voice of the Sixties.” An overstatement, yes; but Joanie was
the “Pepsi Girl,” singing “Now it’s Pepsi for those who think young” and “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi
Generation.” As Goldmine’s Frank Wright observed, she also sang, on “One Boy” (#54, 1960): “One boy
to laugh with, to joke with/Have a Coke with …”
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Born on February 24, 1941, in Buffalo, New York, Joanie moved with her parents to Southern California in
1954. Soon after, she began singing with her high school dance band and later, with groups at the Santa
Monica City College. Talent scouts for the newly formed Warner Bros. label spotted her and signed her to
a contract in 1959. Her first assignment was to replace CONNIE STEVENS singing opposite “77 Sunset
Strip” celebrity EDD BYRNES. She appeared on a couple of “77 Sunset Strip” episodes, and added a
breathy break to “I Dig You Kookie” on Edd’s 1959 debut LP, Kookie (her name was misspelled on the
record label as “Jeanie Sommers”).
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After “One Boy” (#54, 1960) and a number of non-charters, Joanie scored with “Johnny Get Angry.” Who
can ever forget those classic lines: “Johnny get angry/Johnny get mad/Gave me the biggest lecture I ever
had/I want a brave man/I want a cave man”? They don’t make ’em like that anymore, and though Joanie
tried hard with 45s like “Where The Boys Get Together,” “Bobby’s Hobbies,” “Little Girl Bad,” and “Big
Man,” she never managed to top her earlier record.
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Joanie played opposite teen idol Rick Nelson in ABC-TVs “Stage 67” production of On the Flip Side, then
retired to turn her attention to raising a family. Nevertheless, oddball 45s like “Trains And Boats And
Planes” (1967), “Tell Him” (1968), “The Great Divide” (1968), and “Peppermint Chao Chao” (1977) were
sighted well into the ’70s.
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