Born in
New Haven, Connecticut, she attended
East Haven High School and began making local television appearances as a child. While still at school she won a national competition as "most talented teenager" in the US, following which she made many appearances in TV and radio broadcasts. At the suggestion of manager Martin Kugell she was paired with another local teenager,
Gene Pitney, and they recorded for
Decca Records in
New York City in 1959 as a duo,
Jamie & Jane. Two
singles were released by the pair, "Snuggle Up Baby", and "Faithful Our Love" (co-written by Pitney and Mazarro), but neither achieved chart success. Both she and Pitney then became solo acts, and she released three singles for Decca as Ginny Arnell – "Mister Saxophone" (written by
Neil Sedaka and
Howard Greenfield), "Look Who's Talkin'" was written by
Gerry Goffin and
Carole King, In 1961 Arnell moved to
Warwick Records, releasing two singles, "Tribute To You" and "He Likes Rock And Roll Better Than Me". Again, neither charted. However, she had more success after moving to the
MGM label in 1963. Her first single for the label, "
Dumb Head", written by
David Hess and Camille Monte, produced by
Jim Vienneau, and described at
AllMusic as "pathetically self-deprecating", and number 50 on the
Billboard Hot 100. She appeared on
American Bandstand to promote the record, and also recorded the song in
Japanese. The album was reissued with additional tracks on
CD in 2008. ==Discography==