Loulie Jean Norman
Loulie Jean Norman Price (born March 12, 1913 in Birmingham; died August 2, 2005 in Studio City, California) was a coloratura soprano who worked with famed arranger Gordon Jenkins.
Norman was one of five siblings born to Edward and Rebecca Norman of Birmingham, and attended Phillips High School. Her voice was showcased in a high school production of "Naughty Marietta". At Birmingham-Southern College she was active in leading several performance groups, staging a production of "Of Thee I Sing" and founding the Blue Shadows quartet with Hugh Martin. She also regularly appeared at Birmingham Little Theater, on WAPI-AM, and at supper clubs. She graduated from Birmingham-Southern in 1933.
Norman moved New York City in the mid 1930s to pursue a career as a radio singer and model. She performed with Mel Tormé's Mel Tones in the 1940s. She married Norman Henry Price after World War II and moved with him to Panama City, Florida where he operated a flight school. The couple had four children, Patricia, Pamela, Priscilla, and Norman Jr. The family later relocated to Los Angeles, California where, with the help of one of Price's students, Clark Gable, she resumed professional singing.
Norman was regularly brought in as a back-up singer for artists including Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Ray Charles, Dean Martin, Frankie Lane, Bing Crosby, Sam Cooke, and Elvis Presley, and she was a sometime member of several groups, including the Ray Conniff Singers, G-6, and the Ralph Brewster Singers.
Norman dubbed the singing voice for Jane Powell in the 1954 film Athena', for Diahann Carroll in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess, for Juliet Prowse in the 1960 Elvis Presley film G. I. Blues, and for Stella Stevens in John Cassavetes' 1961 film Too Late for Blues.
Norman had a penchant for comedy songs. She often joined Spike Jones and His City Slickers on stage and in the studio. She appeared on several Paul Frees novelty songs, playing as "Vampira" to his "Dracula," and she contributed to Jerry Lewis' 1960 film Cinderfella. She made frequent guest appearances on Dean Martin Show, the Carol Burnett Show, and the Dinah Shore Show.
and sang backup vocals on Elvis Presley's "Moonlight Swim" (1961). According to her family, hers was the soprano voice on the Tokens' 1961 hit song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Other sources credit Anita Darian. She is most known today, however, as the vocalist of the 1966 Star Trek theme, and as the "Crazy Soprano Ghost" in Disney's "Haunted Mansion" theme park attractions.
Norman died in 2005 at her home in Studio City, California. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
References
- "Loulie Jean Norman Price" obituary (August 14, 2005) The Los Angeles Times
- Fair, John D. (July 7, 2023) "Loulie Jean Norman." Encyclopedia of Alabama - accessed September 8, 2023
External links
- Loulie Jean Norman Price memorial site
- audio tribute at ABC.net.au
- Loulie Jean Norman at discogs.com
- Loulie Jean Price at Findagrave.com