Joy Layne was an American pop singer from Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, often compared to Sandy Duncan

Sandy Duncan

Sandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer, dancer and actress of stage and television, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut hairstyle and perky demeanor...

 and with a style inspired in at least part by Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer

Teresa Brewer was an American pop singer whose style incorporated elements of country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950s, recording nearly 600 songs. Born Theresa Breuer in Toledo, Ohio, Brewer died of a neuromuscular...

.

Layne signed to Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

 in 1956 after her mother arranged a meeting with Mercury A&R rep Art Talmadge. Her debut single was a cover

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of The Poni-Tails

The Poni-Tails

The Poni-Tails were an American girl group from Lyndhurst, Ohio.-History:Formed in a suburb of Cleveland, the Poni-Tails - Toni Cistone, Karen Topinka and Patti McCabe - started singing at Brush High School, which they all attended...

' "Your Wild Heart", which became a hit in the U.S., peaking at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 early in 1957. Layne, who was 15 at the time, was attending Lyons Township High School

Lyons Township High School

Lyons Township High School is a public high school located in La Grange, Illinois. Freshmen and sophomores attend class at South campus, located at 4900 S. Willow Springs Rd. in Western Springs, while juniors and seniors attend class at North campus, located at 100 S. Brainard Ave. in La Grange,...

 in LaGrange, Illinois, a small-town western suburb of Chicago, when the single broke nationally. The follow-up sides, "My Suspicious Heart" and "After School," done at the same session as the first record, failed to chart, though "After School" became associated with her and was covered by Teresa Brewer, and her last recordings, produced by Lenny LaCour, were released in 1961.