Diane Renay
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Diane Renay (born Renee Diane Kushner on July 13, 1945 in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American pop singer, best known for her 1964 hit song "Navy Blue."
Renee Diane Kushner started singing at an early age and took voice lessons from Artie Singer, a voice teacher who also managed Danny and the Juniors (of "At the Hop") fame. Singer encouraged Renee to pursue a recording career. Record producer/songwriter Pete DeAngelis was a frequent customer at the Kushners' jewelry store, and Renee's parents arranged for her to audition for De Angelis. DeAngelis, impressed with her talents, got Renee signed to the Atco label. Under the new stage name Diane Renay, Renee released her first single, "Little White Lies," in 1962, but it failed to chart nationally, as did the follow-up, "Tender," and Atco dropped her from the label. Her original intent was to be billed as Renay Diane, but her first Atco release copies mistakenly reversed it. She decided to keep it that way.
However, Bob Crewe, who had written and produced material for Diane's second recording session, then signed her to a new contract whereby he would write and produce records for her. Under Crewe's guidance and signed to the 20th Century label, Diane, then 17 years old, released her biggest hit, "Navy Blue," in late 1963. The song told the story of a girl who was lonely for her steady boyfriend while he was away from home in the U.S. Navy and could hardly wait to see him again. "Navy Blue" became a national smash, cracking the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1964 and soaring to number one on the Adult Contemporary singles chart. The song was followed by Diane's debut album, also titled Navy Blue.
Diane's only other single release to crack the national Billboard chart was "Kiss Me Sailor," which reached number 29 later in 1964. Subsequent singles, including "Growin' Up Too Fast," "Watch Out Sally," "It's In Your Hands," and "Happy Birthday Broken Heart," were hits in certain local markets such as Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Miami 1, but failed to break nationally. Diane moved to the Fontana label in 1969 and attempted a comeback with remakes of "Yesterday" and "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me," but these also failed to chart. She did not record again until the early 1980s.
Diane Renay remains active as a performer today and recently released Diane Renay Sings Some Things Old and Some Things New, a double-CD compilation of her work (including many previously unreleased tracks) from the 1960s through the 1990s.
