#27: Why Oh Why by Kathy Linden
City: Hull, QC
Radio Station: CKCH
Peak Month: August 1958
Peak Position in Hull ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~did not chart
YouTube: “Why Oh Why”
Lyrics: N/A
Kathy Linden was born in 1938 in Moorestown, New Jersey, south of Philadelphia. Linden’s talents appeared early. Her first public appearance was as a tap and ballet dancer when she was five years old. Since then, she acted in school plays and musicals, appeared in public pageants, played piano and violin in several local symphony orchestras, and with an all-girl string quintet called the Singing Strings. She attended the University of New Hampshire Summer Youth Music School in 1954, was a soprano soloist with the All State Chorus in 1955, and studied at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music. As featured vocal soloist with the Singing Strings, she appeared in many well-known spots in Philadelphia and around New Jersey. She also sang with several local bands. At 19, she was discovered by record producer, bandleader, and trumpeter Joe Leahy when she auditioned for him. He was so intrigued with her sound that he recorded her and her first release was “It’s Just My Luck to Be Fifteen.” The single made the Top 5 in Buffalo.