Linda Scott

Born in Queens, New York, Linda Sampson was 11 years old when she moved with her family to Teaneck, New Jersey. She was attending junior high school when she auditioned to appear on Arthur Godfrey’s popular CBS Radio show in 1959.

After having won a place on the show, Sampson and other young performers became regular guests. During the show’s run, the singer came to the attention of Epic Records and made her recording debut (singing as Linda Sampson) with the single, In-Between Teen.

Though still in High School, she signed in 1961 with Canadian-American Records who changed her performing name to Linda Scott, producing and releasing the hit I’ve Told Every Little Star. The track sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc for Scott.

Her three biggest hits came in that first year, with I’ve Told Every Little Star (#3), I Don’t Know Why (#12), and Don’t Bet Money Honey (#9).

Scott was the showcase artist when Canadian-American started a subsidiary label, Congress Records, in 1962, and both labels released new material of hers simultaneously. The following year, she sang her hit Yessirree in the Chubby Checker film, Don’t Knock the Twist.

In 1963, American Bandstand signed Scott to Dick Clark’s “Caravan of Stars” national US tour, which was scheduled to perform its 15th show on the night of 22 November 1963 at the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, Texas, until the Friday evening event had to be suddenly cancelled moments after President John F Kennedy was assassinated that afternoon while touring Dallas in an open car.

Scott’s final US chart appearance was Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed, released in January 1964, the same month that The Beatles made their first chart appearance.

In 1965, she became a cast member of the variety show Where the Action Is, which she co-hosted with singer Steve Alaimo. Her last US recording, They Don’t Know You, was released in 1967 on RCA Records.

She continued to record as a backing vocalist (most notably on Lou Christie‘s 1969 hit, I’m Gonna Make You Mine) before finally quitting show business in the early 1970s.