Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 206

music class to prove to the teacher that rock and roll "wasn't

junk."

While in high school, she sang with a group of friends in subway

stations and on street corners. She said, "I would go out

singing, as a teenager, to a party or out on the street, because

there were harmony groups there, and that was one of the joys of

my youth." She commented: "I was always interested in the social

consciousness of certain songs. My mother and grandfather were

progressive thinkers, so I felt at home in the peace movement

and the women's movement, and that has influenced my music."

Louis Nigro's work brought her into contact with record company

executive Artie Mogull and his partner Paul Barry, who

auditioned Laura in 1966 and became her first managers. However,

Nigro later said he did "not even once" mention Laura to any of

his clients."

Mogull had negotiated a recording and management contract for

her, and Nyro recorded her debut album, “More Than a New

Discovery,” for the Verve Folkways label; later re-named Verve

Forecast. Other songs from the album later became hits for The

5th Dimension, Blood, Sweat and Tears, and Barbra Streisand.

On July 13, 1966, Nyro recorded "Stoney End" and "Wedding Bell

Blues" as well as an early version of "Time and Love", as part