Robin Ward

by Jason AnkenyFamed for the 1963 ballad Wonderful Summer, pop singer Robin Ward was born Jacqueline McDonnell in Hawaii in 1941. Raised primarily in Nebraska, she later became a Los Angeles session vocalist under her married name, Jackie Ward; for Wonderful Summer, her solo debut for Dot, she borrowed the name Robin from her daughter, believing it more suitable for the teen audience the record courted. A lushly dramatic classic of the girl group genre, the single reached the number 14 spot a week before the Kennedy assassination; Ward recorded five more singles for Dot but never recaptured her initial success.