Donna Loren

A performer in the 1960s, she was the "Dr Pepper Girl" from 1963 to 1968, a featured female vocalist on Shindig!, and a cast member of the American International Pictures Beach Party movie franchise.She was signed to Capitol Records in 1964, releasing several singles and the Beach Blanket Bingo LP soundtrack, which included her signature song "It Only Hurts When I Cry".Loren guest-starred on television series including Dr. Kildare, Batman, and The Monkees, as well as appeared regularly on network and local variety and music shows.In 2009, she returned to performing, and her most recent releases include the album Love It Away (2010) and the EP Donna Does Elvis in Hawaii (2010), as well as the compilation These Are the Good Times: The Complete Capitol Recordings (2014).[1] Loren performed in amateur talent shows from the age of six and, in 1955, sang on a radio commercial for Meadow Gold Ice Cream alongside Dick Beals.[1][2][3] On her tenth birthday, Loren filmed an appearance on The Mickey Mouse Club for the Friday "Talent Round-Up Day", performing the songs "I Didn't Know the Gun was Loaded" and "Pennies from Heaven".[1][4] Loren continued to perform and record through the late 1950s and early 1960s, with her songs released on Skylark and Ramada, as well as the American Publishing Company's new label Crest.[16] In the same year, she was part of Clark's Caravan of Stars 22-city summer tour, which was headlined by Gene Pitney and included other artists such as Brian Hyland, The Supremes, The Crystals, and The Shirelles.Loren was often featured in modelling and fashion spots geared towards teenagers, including for hats,[20][21] exercise workouts,[22] makeup,[23] and dental care.[25] The release of the single "Muscle Bustle", written by Brian Wilson, Gary Usher, and Roger Christian would be Loren's final recording for Challenge (B Side: "How Can I Face the World").The film starred other regular Beach Party actors, including Frankie Avalon, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Bobbi Shaw, and Buster Keaton.In late 1964, the Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild named Loren one of its Deb Stars, an annual award given to up-coming performers, who were "the likeliest candidates for motion picture and television stardom in the coming years".Other "most likely star candidates of 1965"[32] were Janet Landgard, Margaret Mason, Tracy McHale, Mary Ann Mobley, Barbara Parkins, Laurie Sibbald, Wendy Stuart, Beverly Washburn, and Raquel Welch.These included at the teenage nightclub The Million Cellars, with Glen Campbell also on the bill,[47] the Pasadena Teen Dances,[48] Rock 'N Roll City with Shindig co-star Bobby Sherman,[49] and appearing with Bob Hope and The Kingsmen at Indiana University's 'Little 500' race weekend in May 1965.[50] She also performed at the Greater Los Angeles Press Club's 1967 "Headliner of the Year" awards, where then Governor of California Ronald Reagan was recognized as "the state's outstanding newsmaker for 1966",[51] and crowned the 1967 "Teen Safety Queen" at the Municipal Auditorium in Dodge City.[53] Loren starred as Greek-American Penny Kanopolis, whose brothers (Michael Constantine and Lou Antonio) try to organize a courtship and marriage to Yani (Gregory Razaki), even though she is already dating another boy, the non-Greek David (Bill Bixby).James Burton produced "Sedona" with Loren, played guitar and assembled other members of the Elvis Presley TCB Band, Ronnie Tutt (drums), Jerry Scheff (bass), and Glen D. Hardin (piano).[57] In the same year, Loren recorded "Wishin' and Hopin'" in Nashville with her longtime producer Jimmy Bowen with David Hungate from Toto (B Side: "Somewhere Down the Road"; Warner Bros).[57] In 1985 Loren was invited to appear in Tokyo, Japan at an International Ballroom Dancing event, and also opened for Jerry Lee Lewis in a show in Beverly Hills, CA.[61] ADASA Hawaii boutiques carried Loren's own designs, as well as lines such as Juicy Couture, Isabella Fiore, James Perse, Lacoste, and Seven Jeans.The EP was produced by Loren, and she again worked with Maurice Gainen and Charles Michael Brotman and musician Jamieson Trotter, as well as new collaborators Sonny Lim and Wailau Ryder.[78] The artwork for the single and the EP, both designed by Katie Waronker's company Riot Structure,[78] blended Hawaiian-inspired imagery including Presley's 1961 LP Blue Hawaii as inspiration for the "Merry Christmas Baby" cover art, and a depiction of Kalakaua Blvd in Waikiki (with Los Angeles-inspired billboards featuring Loren, photographed by Mark Arbeit) for the cover of the EP.[81] Among the over 100 other artists and guests appearing were Billy Hinsche, Al Jardine, Paul Petersen, Hilton Valentine, Mary Wilson, and members of the girl-groups The Angels and The Delicates.[82] In 2013, Loren was part of the choir for the song “If I Had the Time (I Could Change the World),” which was written and produced by Dick Wagner to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.[85] On May 9, 2011, Loren performed in The Vagina Monologues, as part of V-Day Valley 2011, produced and directed by Sheena Metal at CAP (Complete Actors Place) Theater.[95] Loren grew up in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Mar Vista, with her mother Ruth, adoptive father Morey Zukor, and two younger brothers, Alan and Rick.In his AllMusic review,[107] Mark Deming, who gave the compilation four-and-a-half stars out of five, wrote that "the best stuff here is delicious, beautifully crafted '60s West Coast pop, with a gifted and savvy vocalist front and center."In The Second Disc review of the album,[108] the compilation was described as "a must for aficionados of both the girl-group and SoCal pop sound of the sixties", with writer Joe Marchese noting that "fans of the Los Angeles sound will recognize every name here, all at the top of their game: producers David Axelrod, the outré pop guru, and Steve Douglas, Wrecking Crew saxophonist; arrangers Jack Nitzsche, H. B. Barnum, Gene Page and Billy Strange; musicians Hal Blaine, Carol Kaye, Lyle Ritz, Ray Pohlman, Tommy Tedesco, Larry Knechtel, Don Randi, Plas Johnson, Julius Wechter, and future headliners Glen Campbell and Leon Russell."Marchese singled out a number of tracks, including the Axelrod-produced, Barnum-arranged songs "Just a Little Girl", which he thought was "one of the strongest of her tenure with the label", and "Leave Him to Me", which "shows Donna cutting loose with a convincing growl in her voice"; and the Douglas-produced, Nitzsche-arranged songs "Call Me", finding it "inexplicable that she didn’t chart with it", "Donna’s sublime rendition" of "Woman in Love (With You)", and "Hold Your Head High" which was considered "another stunningly mature, previously unreleased track from the Loren/Nitzsche/Douglas/Wrecking Crew cadre."Joseph Kyle wrote that the album "document[s] a young talent’s creative fruits, and is a delight of a listen",[109] while Vic Templar, in UK-based Shindig!