Andrea Lee DeCapite (born October 3, 1946), known by her stage name Andrea Carroll, is an American former pop singer and actress, who had a ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

top 50 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top ...

hit in 1963 with "It Hurts To Be Sixteen", and has subsequently worked as a therapist and acting coach. Now, after her marriage, she is known as Andrea Hill, PhD

Life

She was born in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio, and at the age of three began appearing on television as a singer in ''The Gene Carroll Show'', a talent show hosted by Carroll (1897–1972) that was broadcast in the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

area. She took the stage name Carroll and continued to appear regularly on the show through the 1950s. She made her first recordings as a pop singer on the

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

label with "Young and Lonely" in 1961, followed by "Please Don't Talk to the Lifeguard", which became a major hit in the Cleveland area but failed to break into the national charts. After further singles on Epic failed to become hits, she signed with Bright Tunes Productions in New York City, and recorded "It Hurts To Be Sixteen" – her real age at the time – released on the Big Top label. "It Hurts to Be Sixteen" was written as an

answer song An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

's hit " Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," with a melody by Sedaka and lyrics by Ronnie Grossman, a chemist who was married to Sedaka's sister. Carroll's recording featured

the Chiffons The Chiffons were an American girl group originating from the Bronx, a borough of New York City, in 1960. History Origins The group was originally a trio of schoolmates - lead singer Judy Craig, backed by Patricia Bennett and Barbara Lee - e ...

on uncredited backing vocals, and rose to number 45 on the US pop chart in 1963. However, the follow-up record, "The Doolang", written by

Howard Greenfield Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including o ...

and Helen Miller, also featuring the Chiffons, failed to chart. Carroll released several more singles on the

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

and

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

labels, including "Hey Beach Boy", but they were unsuccessful. She continued to appear on ''The Gene Carroll Show'' through to the mid-1960s, and also toured with her own band, before giving up her musical career. Andrea Carroll, ''BuckeyeBeat.com''
Retrieved 13 October 2015 She attended

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

in the late 1960s, and made her final appearance on ''The Gene Carroll Show'' on a special tribute edition following Carroll's death. She later married television producer Lyle B. Hill, and trained as a clinical therapist. The couple own the Weist-Barron-Hill acting school in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank had a Census-estimated population of 102,755 as of 2023. The city was ...

. Andrea Hill has published ''Making It in the Business'', a book of guidance for people seeking to enter the entertainment industry. Chuck Benjamin, "Andrea Carroll – Pop Princess to Ph.D.", ''Tunedex Memories'', March 8, 2008
Retrieved 13 October 2015

Discography

References

Andrea also appeared on TV, on American Bandstand and on Baltimore's The Buddy Deane Show. She was also featured in Teen magazines of the early 1960s.

Filmography

TV SHOWS 1. The Gene Carroll show (1897–1972).-Herself {{DEFAULTSORT:Carroll, Andrea 1946 births Living people American women singers Singers from Cleveland Kent State University alumni Musicians from Burbank, California 21st-century American women