Joy Layne (born Joy Lynne Nagl on November 11, 1941) is an American pop singer from Brookfield, IL. By age 5, she was singing with her father playing piano. As a 15 year-old Lyons Township High School sophomore, she signed a contract with Mercury Records A&R (Artists & Repertoire) Art Talmadge in the offices at 35 E. Wacker Drive in Chicago. Talmadge recalled to the TV Radio Mirror “She was bouncy and bright-eyed and carried her mascot, this squeaky toy dog Brownie”. Mercury Records had reservations about her vocal experience, which included studying opera with her mother at the Fine Arts Institute in Chicago. Mercury Records told Joy to change her last name to a variation of her middle name. Joy’s dad was a construction worker but at home a violinist and piano picker. Joy’s mother was involved in local theatre productions. Locally Joy rode on a “Joy Layne Says Go Navy” recruiting float in the La Grange Pet Parade on June 8, 1957. Joy appeared on The Vic Damone Show and has traveled 47 states along with a 12-week U.S.O. tour of military bases. While in Hollywood for a possible movie contract that never materialized, Joy had lunch with movie star Rock Hudson. She was married in 1965, but kept performing through the seventies.
Discography
01/1957 Mercury 71038 (with Carl Stevens and his orchestra)
- “Your Wild Heart” (James Testa, Charles Sano)
- “Dum-Dum” (W. Weidler, G. Weidler, W. Weidler)
03/1957 Mercury 71080 (with Carl Stevens and his orchestra)
- “You Gave Me Wings To Fly” (Shapiro, Livingston)
- “After School” (Wolf, Nadel)
06/1957 Mercury 71136 (with Carl Stevens and his orchestra)
- “Sixteen” (C. Gordon, G. Gordon)
- “My Suspicious Heart” (H. Baker, J. Sway)
08/1957 Mercury 71174 (with Carl Stevens and his orchestra)
- “My First Broken Heart”
- “Just A Memory”
12/1958 Mercury 71392
- “Foolishly” (J. Averbach)
- “Meet Me At My Locker” (Colleen Lovett, T. Phillips)
11/1960 Phil Tone 1104
- “Yellow Bird” (Norman Luboff, Marilyn Keith, Alan Bergman)
- “Moments To Remember” (Robert Allen, Al Stillman)
12/1961 Lucky Four 1013
- “Bad Girl”
- “Why Lie” (J. Richard, J. Burgess)
Music Charts
Your Wild Heart – Joy Layne
- 02/06/1957 Billboard Top 100 debut and peaked at #30
- 02/13/1957 Billboard Most Played In Juke Boxes #20
- 02/18/1957 WJJD Top Forty Tunes of Greater Chicago #16
- 03/09/1957 The Cash Box Top 50 Best Selling Tunes On Records #29
After School – Joy Layne
- 04/20/1957 The Cash Box Top 60 Best Selling Tunes On Records #35
- 05/13/1957 WJJD Top Forty Tunes of Greater Chicago #24
Brookfield Citizen (Newspaper)
Thursday, February 14, 1957
Joy Layne Joy the little girl who flew up overnight to record star has ft busy schedule …
Thursday, March 14, 1957
Joy Layne At Sharclub Fete …
Thursday, March 21, 1957
Joy Layne is the Feature RBHS Evenings Program Emerald Moonlight …
Thursday, April 4, 1957
Joy Layne On Winchell New York …
Thursday, April 11, 1957
Joy Layne to be Featured at Fair On the Navy Pier …
Thursday, June 13, 1957
Joy Layne Featured In Chicago CYO Show …
Wednesday, August 7, 1957
Joy Layne to Appear In Fair Presentation …
Thursday, March 11, 1965
Joy Layne is doing a repeat at Club Algiers on Ogden …
TV Appearance
- 07/17/1957 The Vic Damone Show (Season 2 Episode 3) CBS
Published songs
“Little Santito” …words Dee Alan / music Joy Layne …Lennie LaCour Music Co, 30Sep58
References
- Brookfield Citizen Newspaper (The Citizen Publishing Co.)
- Phil Tone a subsidiary of Fleetwood Records Inc.
- Lucky Four Records Chicago, IL founded by Lenny LaCour (1960-1963)
- Billboard Magazine music industry trade publication billboard.com
- Cashbox Magazine music industry trade publication cashboxmagazine.com
- WJJD-AM 1160 Plough, Inc. (1956-1965)
- Copyright, United States Copyright Office EU544198
Copyright information stated above. All rights reserved.
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Mike Baker And The Forgotten 45s @MikeBaker45s 
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