Actress and pop singer Gale Storm (1922-2009) is little remembered today, either for her movie and TV work or her hit recordings in the 1950s.
In the '50s Storm was a TV star with her series My Little Margie and later The Gale Storm Show. Her singing appearance on something called the Comedy Hour Show caught the attention of Randy Wood, the head of Dot Records and he signed her to the label.
Like Pat Boone, her label mate at Dot, much of Storm's early recording success was based on her covers of rhythm-and-blues hits. Her first, and biggest, hit was a version of I Hear You Knocking, which Smiley Lewis took into the R-and-B charts in the summer of 1955. Storm's recording, released in the fall of that year, reached No. 2 on Billboard's pop singles chart.
Gale Storm's success on the pop charts was brief. Her last hit, Dark Moon, came less than two years after I Hear You Knocking.
Storm's hits were gathered on a 1995 CD from Varese Sarabande, Dark Moon: The Best of Gale Storm.
This out-of-print release commands premier prices. The cheapest I've seem recently was $22 -- for a used copy! There are other options, however.
The best of these would be two collections from the European label Jasmine, available both on CD and as downloads. There may be some duplication on the tracks, so check before buying both.
Other downloads of Storm's recordings exist, but they are likely inferior in quality.
Here's Storm performing I Hear You Knocking on a 1950s TV show.
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