Gale Garnett
Encyclopedia
Gale Zoë Garnett is a New Zealand-born Canadian singer best known in the United States for her Grammy
-winning folk
hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine
." Garnett has since carved out a career as a writer
and actress.
, New Zealand
. When Garnett was 11, her family moved to Canada
, and she made her public singing debut in 1960, while at the same time pursuing an acting career making guest appearances on television
shows such as 77 Sunset Strip
. She made her "New York nightclub debut" in 1963, and was signed that same year to RCA Records
. In the fall of 1964, Garnett scored a number four pop hit with her original composition "We'll Sing in the Sunshine
" (also #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for seven weeks and a Top 50 country hit), and recorded her debut album, My Kind of Folk Songs, for RCA Victor. Riding the success of "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," which won a 1965 Grammy
for Best Folk Recording, Garnett continued to record
through the rest of the 1960s with her backing band the Gentle Reign. However, her follow-up to "We'll Sing In The Sunshine," "Lovin' Place," was her only other single to chart in America
. Garnett appeared twice on ABC's Shindig!
and The Lloyd Thaxton Show at the height of her singing fame in the mid 1960s.
Garnett delivered a notable performance in the Rankin-Bass feature Mad Monster Party in the late 1960s, with the memorable tunes "Our Time to Shine" and "Never Was a Love Like Mine." At this period she had begun to be more influenced by the counter-culture and had embraced psychedelic themes to some extent. In the late 1960s she recorded several albums of psychedelic-inflected music with the Gentle Reign.
s (such as 2002's My Big Fat Greek Wedding
) and on television shows, usually in supporting roles. In subsequent years, she also branched out into journalism, writing essays, columns, and book reviews for various newspaper
s and magazine
s. She also wrote and performed two one-person theater pieces, Gale Garnett & Company and Life After Latex.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-winning folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
hit "We'll Sing in the Sunshine
We'll Sing in the Sunshine
"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" is a 1964 hit song written and recorded by Gale Garnett which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending 5 September 1964. The song also enjoyed success on easy listening and country music radio stations, spending seven weeks at number one on...
." Garnett has since carved out a career as a writer
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and actress.
Biography
Garnett was born in AucklandAuckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. When Garnett was 11, her family moved to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, and she made her public singing debut in 1960, while at the same time pursuing an acting career making guest appearances on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
shows such as 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
. She made her "New York nightclub debut" in 1963, and was signed that same year to RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
. In the fall of 1964, Garnett scored a number four pop hit with her original composition "We'll Sing in the Sunshine
We'll Sing in the Sunshine
"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" is a 1964 hit song written and recorded by Gale Garnett which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending 5 September 1964. The song also enjoyed success on easy listening and country music radio stations, spending seven weeks at number one on...
" (also #1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary singles chart for seven weeks and a Top 50 country hit), and recorded her debut album, My Kind of Folk Songs, for RCA Victor. Riding the success of "We'll Sing in the Sunshine," which won a 1965 Grammy
Grammy Awards of 1965
The 7th Grammy Awards were held in 1965. They recognized accomplishments of musicians for the year 1964.-Award winners:*Record of the Year**Astrud Gilberto & Stan Getz for "The Girl from Ipanema"*Album of the Year...
for Best Folk Recording, Garnett continued to record
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
through the rest of the 1960s with her backing band the Gentle Reign. However, her follow-up to "We'll Sing In The Sunshine," "Lovin' Place," was her only other single to chart in America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Garnett appeared twice on ABC's Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
and The Lloyd Thaxton Show at the height of her singing fame in the mid 1960s.
Garnett delivered a notable performance in the Rankin-Bass feature Mad Monster Party in the late 1960s, with the memorable tunes "Our Time to Shine" and "Never Was a Love Like Mine." At this period she had begun to be more influenced by the counter-culture and had embraced psychedelic themes to some extent. In the late 1960s she recorded several albums of psychedelic-inflected music with the Gentle Reign.
Later career
Although Garnett had retired from the music business by the 1980s, she continued appearing in feature filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s (such as 2002's My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian and American romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos , a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper middle class "White...
) and on television shows, usually in supporting roles. In subsequent years, she also branched out into journalism, writing essays, columns, and book reviews for various newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
s. She also wrote and performed two one-person theater pieces, Gale Garnett & Company and Life After Latex.
Books by Garnett
Garnett published her first novel, a romance titled Visible Amazement, in 1999. She followed Visible Amazement up with Transient Dancing in 2003, the novella Room Tone in 2007, and Savage Adoration, her latest release, in 2009.Albums
- My Kind of Folk Songs (1964)
- Lovin' Place (1965)
- The Many Faces of Gale Garnett (1965)
- Variety Is the Spice of Gale Garnett (1965)
- New Adventures (1966)
- Flying and Rainbows and Love (1967)
- An Audience with the King of Wands (1968; with The Gentle Reign)
- Sausalito Heliport (1969; with The Gentle Reign)
Singles (partial list)
- "We'll Sing in the SunshineWe'll Sing in the Sunshine"We'll Sing in the Sunshine" is a 1964 hit song written and recorded by Gale Garnett which reached number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the week ending 5 September 1964. The song also enjoyed success on easy listening and country music radio stations, spending seven weeks at number one on...
" (1964) - US #4 Pop, #1 Adult Contemporary, #42 Country - "Lovin' Place" (1964) - US #54 Pop
- "I'll Cry Alone" (1965)
- "Why Am I Standing at the Window" (1965)
Movies
- My Big Fat Greek WeddingMy Big Fat Greek WeddingMy Big Fat Greek Wedding is a 2002 Canadian and American romantic comedy film written by and starring Nia Vardalos and directed by Joel Zwick. The film is centered on Fotoula "Toula" Portokalos , a middle class Greek American woman who falls in love with a non-Greek upper middle class "White...
(2002) as Aunt Lexy (credited as Gale Zoë Garnett) - Men with Guns (1997) as Eileen Janey
- Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn GouldThirty Two Short Films About Glenn GouldThirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould is an award-winning 1993 film about the piano prodigy Glenn Gould played by Colm Feore. The film's screenplay was written by François Girard and Don McKellar....
(1993) as a Journalist - Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) as Mabel Ong
- Overnight (1986) as Del
- TributeTribute (film)Tribute is a play by Bernard Slade.The plot focuses on Scottie Templeton, a popular actor who has spent his life shirking responsibility. When he discovers he is terminally ill with leukemia, he attempts to reconnect with his long-estranged son....
(1980) as Hilary - The ChildrenThe Children (1980 film)The Children is a 1980 low budget horror film, written and produced by Carlton J. Albright. The movie is about five children in a small town who, thanks to a yellow toxic cloud, are transformed into bloodless zombies with black fingernails who microwave every living thing they put their hands on...
(1980) as Cathy Freemont - Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973) as Yolanda
- JourneyJourney (1972 film)Journey is a 1972 Canadian film written, directed and produced by Paul Almond.-Synopsis:Journey is the allegorical story of a young woman's struggle - outside the normal framework of space and time - to find herself....
(1972) as Morgan, herbalist - Mad Monster Party (1967) (voice) as Francesca
Television
- Wild CardWild Card (TV series)Wild Card is an American comedy-drama series starring Joely Fisher. It was broadcast in the United States on Lifetime, and on the Global Television Network in Canada from August 2003 to July 2005.-Synopsis:...
as Oxsana Petrovich (1 episode, 2005)- Russian Missus Gets No Kisses (credited as Gale Zoë Garnett)
- Kung Fu: The Legend ContinuesKung Fu: The Legend ContinuesKung Fu: The Legend Continues is a spin-off of the 1972-1975 television series Kung Fu. David Carradine and Chris Potter starred as a father and son trained in kung fu - Carradine playing a Shaolin monk, Potter a police detective. This series aired in syndication for four seasons, from January 27,...
as Jo Emery (1 episode, 1995)- The Return of Sing Ling
- Janek: The Silent Betrayal (1994) (TV movie) as Ginette
- E.N.G.E.N.G.E.N.G. is a Canadian television drama, following the staff of a fictional Toronto television news station . The show aired on CTV from 1988 to 1994...
as Lady Lovene (1 episode, 1992)- Two for the Show
- Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990) (TV movie) as May
- Friday the 13th: The SeriesFriday the 13th: The SeriesFriday the 13th: The Series is an American-Canadian horror television series that ran for three seasons, from October 3, 1987 to May 26, 1990 in first-run syndication....
as Dr. Sybil Oakwood (1 episode, 1990)- The Tree of Life
- The Park Is MineThe Park Is Mine (1986 film)The Park Is Mine, is a 1986 made-for-TV movie directed by Steven Hilliard Stern,starring Tommy Lee Jones as a Vietnam War veteran. Mitch takes control of Central Park in New York City, in what many would call an act of domestic terrorism, to honor those who died and served in the Vietnam War and...
(1986) (TV movie) as Rachel - The Edison TwinsThe Edison TwinsThe Edison Twins is a Canadian children's television program which aired on CBC Television from 1983 to 1986. The Disney Channel also picked up the rights in the mid-1980s...
as Lana Garbo (1 episode, 1985)- Everyone a Rembrandt
- Hangin' InHangin' InHangin' In is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC from 1981 to 1987. It also aired briefly in syndication in the United States. Canadian producer Jack Humphrey developed Hangin' In and served as executive producer for the show.-Synopsis:...
as Renee (1 episode, 1983)- She Shoots, He Scores
- The Littlest HoboThe Littlest HoboThe Littlest Hobo is a Canadian television series based upon a 1958 American film of the same name directed by Charles R. Rondeau. The series first aired from 1963 to 1965 in syndication, and was revived for a popular second run on CTV from October 11, 1979 to March 7, 1985.All three productions...
as Madame Sybil (1 episode, 1980)- Carnival of Fear
- King of KensingtonKing of KensingtonKing of Kensington was a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980.The show starred Al Waxman as Larry King, a convenience store owner in Toronto's Kensington Market who was known for helping friends and neighbours solve problems. His multicultural group of friends...
as Carol (2 episodes, 1978)- Carol's Arrival
- Double Standard
- KojakKojakKojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
as Elaine Kastos (1 episode, 1975)- Night of the Piraeus
- Paul Bernard, PsychiatristPaul Bernard, PsychiatristPaul Bernard, Psychiatrist is a Canadian dramatic television series which aired on CBC Television from 1971 to 1972.-Premise:Each episode portrayed a patient's appointment with psychiatrist Paul Bernard at his office. The patient, typically female, would lie on the doctor's couch and reveal her...
(1971) as Mrs. Donaldson - The Rat PatrolThe Rat PatrolThe Rat Patrol is an American television program that aired on ABC during the 1966–1968 seasons. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during World War II...
as Safti (1 episode, 1967)- The Trial by Fire Raid
- The Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton ShowThe Red Skelton Show is an American variety show that was a television staple for two decades, from 1951 to 1971. It was second to Gunsmoke and third to The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings during that time. Skelton, who had previously been a radio star, had appeared in several motion pictures as...
as Guest Vocalist (1 episode, 1964)- Episode #14.8
- Suspense (1 episode, 1964)
- I, Lloyd Benson
- Have Gun - Will Travel as Prudence Powers (1 episode, 1963)
- Debutante
- The Real McCoysThe Real McCoysThe Real McCoys is an American situation comedy co-produced by Danny Thomas' "Marterto Productions", in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's "Westgate" company...
as Angela (1 episode, 1962)- Pepino's Inheritance
- BonanzaBonanzaBonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
as Maria Winters (1 episode, 1962)- The Deserter
- Tales of Wells FargoTales of Wells FargoTales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
as Ruth (1 episode, 1962)- Winter Storm
- The Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell ShowThe Dick Powell Show is an American anthology series that ran on NBC from 1961- 1963, primarily sponsored by the Reynolds Metals Company. It was hosted by longtime film star Dick Powell until his death from lymphatic cancer on January 2, 1963, then by a series of guest hosts until the series ended...
as Paca (1 episode, 1962)- Death in a Village
- 77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
(2 episodes)- Flight from Escondido (1962) as Velia
- The Double Death of Benny Markham (1960) as China Mary
- Hawaiian EyeHawaiian EyeHawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
(2 episodes)- The Trouble with Murder (1961) as Kiana Soong
- White Pigeon Ticket (1960) as Joyce Gilbert
- Hong Kong as Miss Wong (1 episode, 1960)
- When Strangers Meet