Don’t let Miriam Weinkle’s age fool you: while she’s now a 94 year old retiree, living in Florida, she had aspirations in her younger years to be a singer. Back in the 1960s she recorded some tracks, and the first of these, ‘Bewitched, Bothered, And Bewildered’ is out now.
Just why Miriam’s recordings have never before now seen the light of day is unclear; world renown singer Peggy Lee said of Miriam’s demos,
“I think she has a lovely voice quality, good range and comfortable phrasing” – but perhaps being a wife and mother got in the way – it was a different time. Thankfully however her son this year managed to find the original 45 rpm vinyl, mouldering under the dust in a box in her closet, and sent them to Miami Tape, who remastered it, and finally we can hear Miriam’s gorgeous voice, as it was, back in 1964.
A friend of Miriam’s had been working at Miami with some of the top entertainers of the day, and suggested that she might want to pop down to the studios and lay down some tracks. What resulted is stunning: hard to believe that the mellifluous vocals are the result of neither rehearsal nor arrangement; one can only wonder what would have happened had Miriam released the tracks. Regardless, she finally has the opportunity to have her day in the sun – even if it’s nearly 60 years later.
Stream and download Miriam Weinkle singing the Rogers & Hart classic, ‘Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered’ on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.
