From Marlene VerPlanck

"...She may be the most accomplished interpreter of popular material performing today..."  

The New York Times

Marlene on the Air:

All shows can be heard world-wide on the Internet 

Sunday, July 14, Ron Forman's Sweet Sounds Show, 4KRB, 90.3 FM, - 8 p.m
Sunday, July 21, Elliott Ames Show, WVOX 1460 AM, 6:30 p.m.


It's always a series of many decisions when starting a new recording. Songs, musicians, studio, what to sing, who to use, and which studio. I was looking around our music room and found 7 arrangements Billy did on Cy Coleman songs. Pefect! How could I not include Cy Coleman, a singer's dream. Not to mention the thrill of singing seven more of Billy's arrangements.

Then after sorting some music I came across the Harry Warren Songbook. That was easy! I chose four more. Now it was time for a few favorites and I chose, Ivan Linz' and Paul Williams, Love Dance, Ronny Whyte's, Listen to The Piano Man and an original by Billy VerPlanck and Leon Nock. Exquisite!

The rest was easy, I called on some old friends, Houston Person, Claudio Roditi, Mike Renzi,Jay Leonhart, Tedd Firth, Ron Vincent, Boots Maleson, and we went to work in a nice little studio in NJ with our engineer, Dave Kowalski.

Hopefully, you are listening to your copy and enjoying it as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Health, Love & Music
Marlene , 2013

Marlene VerPlanck ....

It's always a series of many decisions when starting a new recording. Songs, musicians, studio, what to sing, who to use, and which studio. I was looking around our music room and found 7 arrangements Billy did on Cy Coleman songs. Pefect! How could I not include Cy Coleman, a singer's dream. Not to mention the thrill of singing seven more of Billy's arrangements.

Then after sorting some music I came across the Harry Warren Songbook. That was easy! I chose four more. Now it was time for a few favorites and I chose, Ivan Linz' and Paul Williams, Love Dance, Ronny Whyte's, Listen to The Piano Man and an original by Billy VerPlanck and Leon Nock. Exquisite!

The rest was easy, I called on some old friends, Houston Person, Claudio Roditi, Mike Renzi,Jay Leonhart, Tedd Firth, Ron Vincent, Boots Maleson, and we went to work in a nice little studio in NJ with our engineer, Dave Kowalski.

Hopefully, you are listening to your copy and enjoying it as much as I enjoyed recording it.

Interview: Marlene VerPlanck

Reprinted from http://jazzwax.com

Singer Marlene VerPlanck has a new album coming—Ballads, Mostly. It's a delicious collection of moody songs with an upbeat feel. Seven of the 15 tracks were arranged by Marlene's late husband, Billy VerPlanck, who died in 2009. Though Marlene spent three decades recording demos and jingles starting in the '60s, she began her professional career in the bands of Charlie Spivak and Tommy Dorsey and recorded many terrific jazz albums over the years.

Marlene also continues to perfom. On Saturday at 1 p.m., she will be singing at the Sheet Music Society of New York City, at 322 W. 48th St., just west of 8th Ave. AFM members are free, $10 for others. She will be joined by pianist, songwriter and singer Ronny Whyte. CDs and sheet music will be available, with all proceeds going to The Cancer Fund. For more information: (212 245-4802). She has an amazing range and often soars in into the high range without fear.

During our recent conversation, Marlene talked about how she got her start and meeting a guy in the street with a glass of milk: 

JazzWax: Where did you grow up?
Marlene VerPlanck: I was born in Newark, and we lived there until I was 16. Then my family moved to Bloomfield, N.J., about 15 minutes away. We needed a bigger house for me and my younger brother and sister. We were a very close Italian family. There are 13 of us in my generation, and I still get together with my first cousins.


JW: Was your family musical?
MV: No. My family was in the restaurant business. My grandfather started the biggest Italian restaurant in Newark—Biase’s—and it was around for about 85 years. Originally my grandmother was in the kitchen there. My mother also was a master chef. My favorite recipe of hers was lasagna.

JW: Did you train as a singer?
MV: No. Actually, I didn’t start singing until I was 19 years old. I recorded my first album in 1955, a session for Savoy that Ozzie Cadena produced.


JW: How did you go from no experience to a Savoy record date?
MV: As a kid, my mother always had the radio dial on WNEW in New York, which played big band and pop music. I also used to sing along with records all the time. I used to go down to WNJR in Newark and pull records for Carl Ide, who had a show. I hung out there and one day decided I was going to sing. I never looked back.

JW: You really hadn’t been singing professionally?
MV: Just a little. Before age 19 I had never worked at a club. Then, in the summer of 1955, I began singing at The Well in Caldwell, N.J. I was so young and green. My dad took me to the club and told them he was my agent. 

Used with permission by Marc Myers
Read more: http://www.jazzwax.com/2013/01/interview-marlene-verplanck.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Jazzwax+%28JazzWax%29

Throughout her career, Marlene VerPlanck has stuck to her guns

Throughout her career, Marlene VerPlanck has stuck to her guns, paying loving care to the great standards and new songs from our finest composers, while ignoring mediocre pop tunes. Songwriter Hugh Martin ("Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," etc.) expressed it well: "We know our songs are safe in the hands of Marlene VerPlanck, and she will sing them better than anyone else."

Millions of people first heard Marlene's crystal-clear voice anonymously, on radio and television, when she espoused the merits of dozens of commercial products, among them: "Mm-mm good, mm-mm good, that's what Campbell's Soups are..." But, actually, she got her start in the big-band business, as a very young vocalist with Charlie Spivak and Tex Beneke. During a brief stint with the last Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, she met her future husband, musician-arranger Billy VerPlanck.

In time, Marlene became one of the nation's busiest studio singers, backing up vocalists ranging from Frank Sinatra and MelTorme to Kiss. Following appearances on Alec Wilder's historic National Public Radio series, "American Popular Songs," in the 1970s, Marlene emerged as a leading solo performer.


Appearances at Carnegie Hall, Michael's Pub and the Rainbow Room brought rave notices, and national TV shows, including "Entertainment Tonight," "The Today Show" and CBS's "Sunday Morning," featured profiles of the increasingly popular singer.

Today, Marlene performs across North America and much of Western Europe, while a growing roster of solo CDs continues to win critical acclaim. A list of her current recordings on the Audiophile label appears on this web site in the Discography section. The albums feature exciting arrangements scored by her husband, Billy VerPlanck, with accompaniment by many of America's finest musicians.

In addition to her Audiophile albums,"In a Digital Mood," featuring Marlene, Mel Torme and Julius LaRosa with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, on the GRP label, was the first big-band CD to go gold. The CD is available from GRP Records, Inc.


Also, at the personal request of Richard Adler, the renowned composer of Damn Yankees and The Pajama Game, Marlene recorded some of Adler's most memorable music. The CD, "You Gotta Have Heart: The Songs of Richard Adler," is available on the Varese Saraband label.