Gisele MacKenzie

Gisele MacKenzie is special because she is from Winnipeg, which is my home town. Maybe she was friends with Burton Cummings. Maybe she was friends with Burton Cummings' mother.

All I had here, until recently, was the hit, Hard To Get, but now I have the collection, Hard To Get: The Best Of Gisele MacKenzie on RCA, which isn’t hard to get. I got it from the library, but you can get if from Amazon.

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Gisele MacKenzie:

• Hard To Get – Her one big hit, this reached # 4 in the summer of ’55.
• The Boston Fancy – Sounds a lot like Bonaparte’s Retreat. I’ve never been to Boston, but I know someone from there.
• Unchained Melody – Her take on this is underwhelming.
• Two Hearts, Two Kisses (Make One Love) – We have this by The Crew Cuts
• Play Me Hearts And Flowers (I Wanna Cry) – A hit for Johnny Desmond, but this is the only version that I have.
• Beyond The Sea – La Mer originally. I have this by Bobby Darin, who had a hit with it in 1960. Ms MacKenzie does it well, even sings part of it in French, but she doesn’t sound much like a French Canadian…
• The Star You Wished Upon Last Night – Cute, this. A minor hit in the autumn of 1956.
• Dinner For One Please, James – Another bilingual performance
• The River Seine – This one in French
• Ebb Tide – One of those 50s standards, a hit for The Righteous Brothers in 1965.
• Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White – A hit for Perez Prado, and for Alan Dale. She sings it in French.
• This I Know
• Song From Moulin Rouge – A hit for Percy Faith, with vocals by Felicia Sanders. This is a very similar performance, and it’s not bad.
• Too Young – The Nat King Cole hit.
• Tell Me That You Love Me
• Answer Me, My Love – Another Nat King Cole hit.
• Learnin’ The Blues – A hit for Frank Sinatra.
• Slowpoke
• Hey There – A hit for Rosemary Clooney, for Sammy Davis Jr, and for Johnny Ray.
• Pepper Hot Baby – A minor hit in the fall of ’55.