A She Girl Looking For A He Man

Norma Douglas
with Ray Ellis Orchestra

"A She Girl Looking For A He Man"

[Norman Gimbel - Clyde Otis]
(Edwin H. Morris, ASCAP)

RKO Unique Records

1957

Norma Douglas had her first single released on Guyden Records in 1953, which was also the first record issued by this Philadelphia label.

Born the youngest of seven children in upstate New York, this farmer's daughter started tackling the piano at age 4 after an older sister's practice session.

The family quickly signed her up for lessons in her tiny hometown near Buffalo. "After 10 lessons, the piano teacher called and said she could not do any more for me," says [Norma], who graduated to another teacher.

"Most teachers put you in 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' I went right into Bach and Beethoven." At not quite 16, she enrolled at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. There, she was approached by an adman looking to fill a 15-minute TV show in Rochester.

"The other kids were in this very classical box. I always had the feeling I wanted to do other things," says Norma, who can belt out both boogie-woogie and pop tunes with the best of them.

She did the show, "A Girl, a Boy and a Piano," for a couple of years, then headed for New York City.

During her 20s, she performed in a couple of Broadway musicals, toured with Fred Waring's orchestra, appeared with Arthur Godfrey on radio and television, snared star billing at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room and recorded an album, "The Dynamic Miss Douglas," [RKO Unique].

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