Update: November 1, 2017 It seems that Marcie Blane has not died.
The Santa Monica Observer has printed a retraction and an explanation, saying that “An elderly homeless woman named Mildred Goldman aka Mildred Maxwell died at USC–LA County Hospital on October 9th, 2017. During the last 30 or so years, she succeeded in convincing people that she was Marcie Blane, singer of “Bobby’s Girl” which was a hit in 1962. The truth is, Mildred Maxwell was someone else. (BTW, she also told people that her dead husband, Arthur Maxwell, had been the heir to the Maxwell House Coffee fortune. We should’ve known right then).”
EARLIER:
Marcie Blane, who had a huge hit in 1962 with “Bobby’s Girl”, has died at the age of 75.
The Santa Monica Observer reported her death on Sunday (October 29), saying that she had died on October 9 at Cedar’s Sinai. According to the article, the County of Los Angles has since been looking for a next of kin and said that Ms. Blane did not have enough money to her name for a burial.
Born Marcia Blank on May 21, 1944 in Brooklyn, she was one of four children. Her father was a professional musician and Marcie learned the piano and was playing in the Catskills by her mid-teens.
Late in her senior year at Jamaica High School in 1961, she was asked by a friend to record a demo for a song he had written. While at the studio, Marv Holtzman, the A&R man for Seville Records, heard Marcie sing and signed her to a contract. The first song that he found for her to record was “Bobby’s Girl”.
By December of 1961, the record had gone to number 3 in the country and Seville rushed the followup, “What Does a Girl Do” to the market, only to see it stall at number 82.
Blane continued to record for Seville through 1965 but they were never able to find a song that would have the success as her very first hit. While she enjoyed music, she didn’t enjoy the business and wouldn’t record again.
Post-music, Marcie went to Queens College and became a teacher.
