Arlene Harden

b. 1 March 1945, England, near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, USA. Harden sang with her brother Bobby and sister Robbie as the Harden Trio onBarnyard Frolics, when all three were teenagers in Little Rock. Later they were featured on the Ozark Jubilee, The Louisiana Hayride and in 1966, the Grand Ole Opry. The trio recorded for Columbia Records and early in 1966, they had a US country and pop hit with Bobby Harden’s song ‘Tippy Toeing’. Another of his songs, ‘Sneaking ’Cross The Border’, also became a Top 20 country hit. Their last chart entry, ‘Everybody Wants To Be Somebody Else’, seemed to be somewhat prophetic because in 1968, they disbanded. Arlene had begun to pursue a solo career in 1967 and had minor hits that year with ‘Fair Weather Love’ and ‘You’re Easy To Love’. Between 1967 and 1978, she accrued 17 more country chart entries, the most successful being ‘Lovin’ Man’ (a female version of the Roy Orbison number 1, ‘Oh Pretty Woman’). She also charted with a version of Orbison’s ‘Crying’, and after moving to Capitol Records in 1974, she recorded a country version of the Helen Reddy pop hit ‘Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)’, although for some reason she appears as ‘Arleen’ on this release. Bobby Harden duetted with his sister in 1968 on ‘Who Loves Who’ and had a minor solo country chart entry in 1975 with ‘One Step’. Arlene moved to Elektra Records in 1977, where her last chart entry was a 1978 minor hit with ‘You’re Not Free And I’m Not Easy’.