'If I Love Again'

Marlene VerPlanck started singing at age 19. Her career stretched back to the '50s when she worked with Tex Beneke and Charlie Spivak. Her first big break came in 1955 when she teamed up with pianist Hank Jones, flutist Herbie Mann, trumpeter Joe Wilder, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Kenny Clarke on I Think of You with Every Breath I Take on Savoy Records. She met her husband while performing with Charlie Spivak's band, then both moved over to the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra. Tommy Dorsey died in 1956, so the VerPlancks decided to stay in New York City to pursue studio work with the likes of Sinatra, Perry Como, Tony Bennett, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and even Kiss. Millions of people outside the jazz world first heard VerPlanck's voice, though, doing jingles in the '60s: "Weekends were made for Michelob/Yeah!" and "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should!" and "Mmm good/Mm-mm good/That's what Campbell's Soups are/Mm-mm good." After thousands of commercial jingles and hours and hours of studio session work in New York, the VerPlancks decided to settle down in their house in Clifton, New Jersey, and began performing and recording together.
-Robert Hicks