Marlene VerPlanck, one of the best-known interpreters of the American Popular Songbook died Sunday, January 14, 2018, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital after a brief illness.
Marlene’s final performances were on December 12 and December 13 at Mezzrow in Greenwich Village. In a 1980 review in the New York Times, John S. Wilson suggested that Marlene VerPlanck “may be the most accomplished interpreter of popular material performing today.” It was after an appearance in London, at Ronnie Scott’s in March 2017, that a reviewer for Jazz Journal International called her “the finest Canary in captivity.” Her most recent recording, The Mood I’m In, was ranked as one of the best releases of 2016 in the jazz magazine, DownBeat.
Born Marlene Pampinella in Newark, New Jersey, on November 11, 1933, she was first heard by many when she sang the words “Mm-m-m Good, Mm-m-m Good. That’s what Campbell’s Soups are, mm-m-m good.” With her clear voice, sight-reading ability and perfect pitch, Marlene was one of the most successful of the “jingle singers” of the 1960s and ’70s. Hers was the voice of “Winstons Taste Good (like a cigarette should),” of Amtrak, of Michelob Beer, of Singer sewing m
