Rosalie "Rosie" Méndez Hamlin was
born in Klamath Falls, Oregon, on July 21, 1945. She started singing
with a band at thirteen. She wrote the lyrics for "Angel Baby"
as a poem for "my very first boyfriend" when she was 14 years
old. "Angel Baby" made its radio debut in December 1960,
before the group had even received their contract. When the contract
finally came, Hamlin found that she was ineligible to collect record
royalties from the song because she was not listed as the songwriter.
This led to the group's break-up, and although Hamlin secured the
copyright to her music in 1961, decades of battles over royalties
followed. Rosie retired from singing in 1963 to become a housewife and
mother. She started performing once again in the 1990's
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
material is consistent with the "fair use" provisions contained in
section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976; the use of copyrighted material is
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