Biography
Linda Lawley, who also recorded under the name Linda Lee Lawley and later adopted the married surname Linda Lawley Pelfrey, earned her greatest visibility as the lead vocalist for the sunshine pop outfit Eternity's Children. That Mississippi-rooted affiliation, however, formed only one chapter in a career spanning four decades that began while she was still a teenager. Born in Stillwater, Oklahoma, in 1949, she came of age during successive waves of the folk revival and was already performing in Gulfport, Mississippi, clubs by the time she turned sixteen. She entered Eternity's Children in 1966 and stayed until 1970, contributing to a run of singles and two full-length albums as well as additional sessions that stayed unreleased for thirty-five years. Her rich alto supplied a signature warmth to the group's buoyant sound, which might have established them as a more grounded counterpart to Spanky & Our Gang, yet the public never embraced the band to the degree their music warranted. After the breakup she moved to New York City, where she performed in stage productions that included Hair, The Earl of Ruston, and Iphigenia; the last of these, whose cast featured Patti Lupone, took her to London. Following Iphigenia she began writing songs with fellow cast member Margaret Dorn. She also logged extensive session work behind artists such as B.J. Thomas, Petula Clark, and Kiss before the latter adopted its eventual name, and in the mid-seventies she and Dorn formed the duo Lady. She next joined the Los Angeles septet Thieves, which disbanded after issuing its lone album, Yucatan, on Arista in 1980. Lawley then joined two other former Thieves members, Jerry Donahue and Russ Buchanan, in the group Roommates, which developed into a leading Los Angeles cabaret act throughout the following decade and into the nineties. Marriage to Danny Pelfrey led to a creative partnership that ultimately included touring with Carole King upon the songwriter's return to the concert stage. Lawley succumbed to cancer in late 2007; through a final irony, Rev-Ola Records' reissues in the last five years of her life spotlighted the very recordings that had launched her career, restoring the complete Eternity's Children catalog, including previously unheard tracks from the late sixties.
Albums
