68? Wow. She must have gotten an early start.
68? Wow. She must have gotten an early start.She did. She was 17 when she cut her first single, as a singer, for RCA, with a pair of songs she'd written, "Silly, Isn't It" and "Cha-Cha Charming," releasing them as Ellie Gaye. (Apparently, she was a fan of a singer named Billie Gaye, who cut the first version of Millie Small's eventual bluebeat hit "My Boy Lollipop.") This record also provoked her to transfer from Queens College to Hofstra---a music professor belittled her for being involved with pop and rock, and she was deeply offended by it.