Donna Loren

Donna Zukor (born March 7, 1947), known professionally as Donna Loren, is an American singer and actress. A performer in the 1960s, she was the "Dr Pepper Girl" from 1963 to 1968, a featured female vocalist on Shindig!, and a cast member of the American International Pictures Beach Party movie franchise. She was signed to Capitol Records in 1964, releasing several singles and the Beach Blanket Bingo LP soundtrack, which included her signature song "It Only Hurts When I Cry". Loren guest-starred on television series including Dr. Kildare, Batman, and The Monkees, as well as appeared regularly on network and local variety and music shows. In 1968, Loren retired from her career to marry and raise a family. She recorded again in the 1980s and ran her own fashion business, ADASA Hawaii, throughout the 1990-2000s. In 2009, she returned to performing, and her most recent releases include the album Love It Away (2010) and the EP Donna Does Elvis in Hawaii (2010), as well as the compilation These Are the Good Times: The Complete Capitol Recordings (2014). In August 2020, Loren began hosting Love's A Secret Weapon Podcast, an audio memoir of her life and career. On March 7, 1947, Donna Zukor was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Loren performed in amateur talent shows from the age of six and, in 1955, sang on a radio commercial for Meadow Gold Ice Cream alongside Dick Beals. In the same year, she was a regular performer on the music radio series Sqeakin' Deacon with James Burton. By 1956, she was performing with The Moppets Group and she recorded a single, "I Think It's Almost Christmas Time" (Fable). On March 7, 1957, her tenth birthday, Loren filmed an appearance on The Mickey Mouse Club for the Friday "Talent Round-Up Day", performing the songs "I Didn't Know the Gun was Loaded" and "Pennies from Heaven". Loren continued to perform and record through the late 1950s and early 1960s, with her songs released on Skylark and Ramada, as well as the American Publishing Company's new label Crest. Her first two efforts for that label–"Hands Off", written by Billy Page and arranged by Gene Page, and Glen Campbell's "I'm So Lonely"–were produced by Jimmy Bowen. At Crest, she began to use the professional name Donna Loren. She had previously performed under the name Donna Zukor, and recorded under the names Donna Zuker, Donna Dee, and Barbie Ames. In 1960, Loren appeared on the Playhouse 90 episode "In the Presence of Mine Enemies". From 1962 to 1963, Loren recorded with Challenge. She released six singles, including "I'm in Love with the Ticket Taker at the Bijou Movie" (B Side: "I'm Gonna Be All Right", subsequently re-released as an A Side, with "Johnny's Got Something"), "On the Good Ship Lollipop" (B Side: "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)"), and "Dream World" (B side: "(Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You"). Nancy Mantz and Dave Burgess co-wrote two of Loren's Challenge songs (they also wrote one song each with other collaborators), and her arrangers included Sonny Bono. Loren's recording of "Dream World", written by Joy Kennedy, was awarded four stars by Billboard in their new singles reviews. While only in her mid-teens, Loren recorded songs such as "If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" and "(Remember Me) I'm the One Who Loves You". Loren said of her early recording: "Somehow I had a knowledge in me that came through my voice and therefore more mature songs were chosen and adapted for recording." In 1963, while still a student at Venice High School in West Los Angeles, Loren signed a contract with Dr Pepper as the "Dr Pepper Girl" to promote the drink to a younger demographic. One of her first appearances for the company as its spokesperson was co-hosting, with Dick Clark, the ABC television one-hour special Celebrity Party. She performed "Bill Bailey" and her record "I Can't Make My Heart Say Goodbye". Dr Pepper historian Harry E. Ellis described Loren as "an immediate success", writing that she "would figure prominently in Dr Pepper’s plans for some five years, not only as an entertainer but doing commercials for radio and TV and appearing in many forms of advertising." Loren made hundreds of personal appearances for the company, where she would perform and meet fans. Loren and Dick Clark appeared at the 1964 New York World's Fair as "host and hostess" for winners of a Dr Pepper promotion. In the same year, she was part of Clark's Caravan of Stars 22-city summer tour, which was headlined by Gene Pitney and included other artists such as Brian Hyland, The Supremes, The Crystals, and The Shirelles. Loren said in 2011, "I travelled all over the country, and I performed for them in every city that had a Dr Pepper bottling plant. I cut all the ribbons for all the new plant openings. I did all their TV and radio commercials, and all their print advertising and billboards." In addition to her work for Dr Pepper, Loren was chosen in 1965 by Simplicity Pattern company to appear in a national advertisement campaign "If I Can Sew, You Can Sew", appearing in print and commercials. Loren was contractually signed because she made much of the wardrobe she appeared in during television and live performances. Francesco Scavullo took her portrait for Simplicity. Loren was often featured in modelling and fashion spots geared towards teenagers, including for hats, exercise workouts, makeup, and dental care. She regularly appeared on the cover of Teen magazine, as well as other teen, television, and movie magazines. In 1964, Loren began appearing in the American International Pictures Beach Party series starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. In Loren's first appearance in Muscle Beach Party, she sang "Muscle Bustle" with Dick Dale. The Galveston Daily News wrote "It didn't take long for Donna, Dr Pepper's new singing star to make her mark. She has a feature singing part". The release of the single "Muscle Bustle", written by Brian Wilson, Gary Usher, and Roger Christian would be Loren's final recording for Challenge (B Side: "How Can I Face the World"). Loren then appeared in Bikini Beach (singing "Love's a Secret Weapon"), and Pajama Party (singing "Among the Young"). An article regarding the release of Pajama Party described "the amazingly-voiced Donna Loren, seventeen-year-old songstress who made her debut in Muscle Beach Party and who makes a bigger impression each time she sings. She will be seen and heard next in Beach Blanket Bingo". She appeared in the series in the fifth film Beach Blanket Bingo in 1965, performing "It Only Hurts When I Cry", which some regard as her "signature tune". The film resulted in Loren's first album, Beach Blanket Bingo. Loren said of the recording of the album: "I worked for 14 hours straight. The album was completed in that session." The album was released on Capitol Records, which Loren had signed with in 1964, produced by David Axelrod, and arranged and conducted by H. B. Barnum. Loren also appeared in another AIP Beach Party film, Sergeant Deadhead, where she sang "Two Timin' Angel". The film starred other regular Beach Party actors, including Frankie Avalon, Deborah Walley, Harvey Lembeck, John Ashley, Bobbi Shaw, and Buster Keaton. At Capitol, Loren released many of her well-known songs including "Blowing Out the Candles" and (B Side) "Just a Little Girl" (1964), which were produced by Axelrod and arranged and conducted by Barnum, "So, Do The Zonk" (B Side: "New Love" from her LP) (1965), "Call Me" (B Side: "Smokey Joe's"), (1965), and "I Believe" (1965; regularly performed in her Dr Pepper appearances). In late 1964, the Hollywood Makeup Artists and Hair Stylists Guild named Loren one of its Deb Stars, an annual award given to up-coming performers, who were "the likeliest candidates for motion picture and television stardom in the coming years". Other "most likely star candidates of 1965" were Janet Landgard, Margaret Mason, Tracy McHale, Mary Ann Mobley, Barbara Parkins, Laurie Sibbald, Wendy Stuart, Beverly Washburn, and Raquel