While tripping merrily through the mail, David Wennberg was overheard
 DW> I have two lp's by Claudine Longet.  I can't find any information
 DW> about her at all, or whether these are collectable.  If I remember
 DW> correctly (and I probably don't) this was the pretty french girl that I
 DW> first saw on the 60's series Hogan's Heros.
At the time, she was married to Andy Williams.  Born in France on Jan.
29, 1942, She was originally a Las Vegas Chorus Girl, one day Andy was 
driving to Vegas, saw her at the  side of the road with a flat tire, and 
stopped to help.  They eventually married, and she bore him at least two 
children.  She was also a regular on his TV show, up until it went off 
the air in 1971.
She had four singles make the Billboard "Hot 100" For Herb Alpert and Lou
Adler's "A&M" lable.....
 "Meditation (Meditacao)" , 1966 (no.98)
 "Hello Hello", 1967 (No. 91)
 "Good Day Sunshine", 1967 (No. 100)
 "Love Is Blue", 1968 (No. 71)
Not exactly what you'd call "Chart Burners".  She did do better on the 
"Easy Listening" charts, and three of her albums made the "Top 40"
album Chart.......
 "Claudine" (A&M 4121, 1967, No. 11)
 "The Look Of Love" (A&M 4129, 1967, No. 33)
 "Love Is Blue" (A&M 4142, 1968, No. 29)
The first, "Claudine" was RIAA certified Gold. (over 500,000 copies sold).
In addition to the above three, my personal collection also includes
"Colours" (A&M 4163).
 DW> For some reason, I seem to think that she is/was imprisoned for
 DW> murdering her husband or something, but I'm not sure.  Like I said, I
 DW> have no idea if she is still around, or if her albums have become
 DW> collectable.  She does have quite a sweet voice, so it wouldn't
 DW> surprise me any if they have.
After divorcing Andy Williams, she was accused of murdering her "live-in
boyfriend" a Colorado ski instructor.  I don't recall if it went to
trial, but she was never convicted. Her career however, at the time 
already "on the skids", never recovered.
She did have a nice voice, very reminiscent of Astrud Gilberto, but it
was an "aquired" taste.  A lot of people didn't care for her, thinking she
was a star only based on her "good looks" and the fact she was married
to Andy.  I for one, though, do definitely like her.
I doubt if her albums are all that collectable now, although they could
be in the future.  I would guess right now you're probably looking at the
$5.00 - $10.00 range for VG+ to "Near Mint" copies.  Actually, they probably
would be worth more had she been convicted, and a lot of people do think she
was guilty, but I don't want to believe that of her.
 DW> Any information or directions to a source of information about her and
 DW> her albums would be appreciated.  If you are interested in the albums,
 DW> make me an offer, and I'll certainly consider it.
I would guess I probably already have them (I do if they're any of the four
mentioned above.)  I don't know of any sources of additional information, 
what I posted above came from Joel Whitburn's "Top Pops" (The "Chart bible"),
his "Billboard Book ofTop 40 Albums" and my own personal recollections.
Don
... All the world's a stage, and I missed rehearsal.
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