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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZBARTON, Eileen(b 24 November 1929, Brooklyn, NY; d 27 June 2006) Singer. Her parents were vaudevillians; she made her debut at age two, later had spots on the Eddie Cantor, Rudy Vallee and Milton Berle radio shows, understudied in Broadway musical Best Foot Forward in 1941 and worked with Frank Sinatra '44, Berle again '45. She had a smash no. 1 international hit in 1950 with the inane novelty 'If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked A Cake', co-written by Bob Merrill and sold for $300 to a Chicago publisher who got it a spot on the local Breakfast Club radio show; that day NYC publishers were bidding for it. The lyric was changed by schoolboys to 'baked a bomb' in those pre-terrorism years. Barton then got better club and TV spots, and recorded for Coral: standards ('You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me'), covers (Johnny Ray's 'Cry', Dean Martin's 'Sway', Perry Como's 'Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes'), a top 20 in 1953 with 'Pretend'. Pianist Gene Di Novi tells the story of the club Barton opened in Manhattan. It was supposed to be a steady gig with Bill Crow on bass and Johnny Cresci on drums. On opening night Jimmy Van Heusen came in, Jane Fonda was having a coming out party in the back, and the trio was playing for Mel Tormé, but the temporary liquor license expired and the club closed and never reopened. They couldn't get a proper license, they figured, because the owner of the Copacabana nearby didn't want the competition and used his influence to put the nix on it. |