Gale Garnett

Gale Garnett
Born	17 July 1942 (1942-07-17) Auckland, New Zealand

Gale Zoë Garnett (born 17 July 1942) 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.

Biography

Garnett was born in Auckland, 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.

Later career

Although Garnett had retired from the music business by the 1980s, she continued appearing in feature films (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 newspapers and magazines. 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.

Discography

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 Sunshine" (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)

Filmography

Movies

• My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) as Aunt Lexy (credited as Gale Zoë Garnett)
• Men with Guns (1997) as Eileen Janey
• Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1993) as a Journalist
• Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990) as Mabel Ong
• Overnight (1986) as Del
• Tribute (1980) as Hilary
• The Children (1980) as Cathy Freemont
• Happy Mother's Day, Love George (1973) as Yolanda
• Journey (1972) as Morgan, herbalist
• Mad Monster Party (1967) (voice) as Francesca

Television

• Wild Card as Oxsana Petrovich (1 episode, 2005)
  • Russian Missus Gets No Kisses (credited as Gale Zoë Garnett)
• Kung Fu: The Legend Continues as Jo Emery (1 episode, 1995)
  • The Return of Sing Ling
• Janek: The Silent Betrayal (1994) (TV movie) as Ginette
• E.N.G. 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 Series as Dr. Sybil Oakwood (1 episode, 1990)
  • The Tree of Life
• The Park Is Mine (1986) (TV movie) as Rachel
• The Edison Twins as Lana Garbo (1 episode, 1985)
  • Everyone a Rembrandt
• Hangin' In as Renee (1 episode, 1983)
  • She Shoots, He Scores
• The Littlest Hobo as Madame Sybil (1 episode, 1980)
  • Carnival of Fear
• King of Kensington as Carol (2 episodes, 1978)
  • Carol's Arrival
  • Double Standard
• Kojak as Elaine Kastos (1 episode, 1975)
  • Night of the Piraeus
• Paul Bernard, Psychiatrist (1971) as Mrs. Donaldson
• The Rat Patrol as Safti (1 episode, 1967)
  • The Trial by Fire Raid
• The Red Skelton Show 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 McCoys as Angela (1 episode, 1962)
  • Pepino's Inheritance
• Bonanza as Maria Winters (1 episode, 1962)
  • The Deserter
• Tales of Wells Fargo as Ruth (1 episode, 1962)
  • Winter Storm
• The Dick Powell Show as Paca (1 episode, 1962)
  • Death in a Village
• 77 Sunset Strip (2 episodes)
  • Flight from Escondido (1962) as Velia
  • The Double Death of Benny Markham (1960) as China Mary
• Hawaiian Eye (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

Soundtrack

• Penelope (1966) (music: "The Sun Is Gray")

External links

• Gale Garnett at the Internet Movie Database