Talk:Linda November/GA1

Latest comment: 13 years ago by Elonka in topic GA Review

GA Review

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Reviewer:Dr. Blofeld 12:20, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Beginning read through, will post gradually.♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:20, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Lead

Please source birth dates and place.

Early years (1930s–1960s)
  • "She attended Thomas Jefferson High School, then The High School of Music & Art." Do we have dates/ages for this?
OK, as long as its not original research, a shame she doesn't appear to have an online website with a biography relating this.♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:47, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • "While she herself was at the office, November met another patient who had contacts in the music industry, and so she sang an impromptu audition. " I gather that she was talking to another patient whilst waiting and found out that the fellow patient had contacts so asked if she could sing for her? Can you elaborate/clarify this, it seems a little bizarre to have an audition at a doctors that's all.
  • "pretty sopranos" If this is a quote please cite the source.
  • Can you reference the Ray Charles part?
Ah, I had thought this!♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:47, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply
Jingle singer
Other projects
  • "She, Tony Orlando, and Toni Wine sang "Candida", in a group surreptitiously entitled "Dawn" so that Orlando, a recording industry executive at the time, would not get in trouble with his current company, April-Blackwood at CBS. " Sorry you've lost me. Please explain. How would the name cause trouble?
  • "Orlando asked two other session singers, Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, to become a real "Dawn" group so that they could go on tour." Real seems out of place here. You mean "formal"? Please reword.
  • "she continues to work as a piano and keyboard accompanist." where, who for, what kind of work is this? Recording, live acts, or what?
    • She and her husband put on occasional shows, for example they just did a Cole Porter tribute a couple months ago. Again, per WP:AUTO, it seemed more appropriate to put it like this than just to leave it as "she retired". --Elonka 14:52, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply
  • I think it would be more appropriate to put her 2011 portrait in the infobox and the group photo including her husband in section where it mentions him.
Notable works

"1976, with Jimi Hendrix (Crash Landing)" Hendrix died in 1970! needs a rewording that she didn't actually sing with Hendrix but recorded her voice on one of his tracks or something.

Sure.♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:50, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Sources

Sources mostly look OK. Although "Song Facts." is dubious, but I guess it is a recorded interview. Sadly a distinct lack of books sources used and which actually exist. Looking in google books there is a distinct lack of books mentioning her, can't be helped I guess.

  • Agreed. I searched hard for every source I could find, but she was fairly publicity-averse during her career, so there's not a lot to go on. If there are any other sources, I don't know about them! --Elonka 14:52, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Yes, its the same with some of the very important and often most prolific contributors to the film industry such as cinematographers, editors, musicians, art directors, stuntmen etc who are not actors and directors.♦ Dr. Blofeld 15:50, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

More on jingles

I was surprised to see there was not a larger list of notable jingles she had sung. I mean, tens of thousands is a huge amount. I would have expected to have seen several dozen of the most notable ones listed or at least 10, certainly more than at present. Is there a reason for this, or could you perhaps expand the list of notables a bit further? ♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:05, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

I am in agreement, but again, there's a problem with sourcing. There are multiple reliable sources which confirm the "tens of thousands" number, probably because she was just non-stop in the studio for so many years. But in terms of listing specific jingles, there are very few sources, and I've listed most of the ones that I could find. I could probably stretch the list with a few more jingles that were mentioned on one single personal interview that November did on the "Ronnie show", where she sang several other jingles,[1] but as it's a single primary source, I didn't feel that it was enough to source the major claim that she was the singer on each of those jingles. Also, she was often singing as part of a group, so since we don't have the names of the other singers at the time, it's again a little dicey. There have been other cases where November has stated that she was the backup singer on a certain song (such as Barbra Streisand's "Stoney End"), but that song does list its backup singers, and November isn't on the list. I doubt she's making it up (she doesn't need to), but it does make it difficult to give credit if she was an uncredited singer. If you feel that the Ronnie source is okay though, I'll go pull in the list of jingles from that interview. --Elonka 17:21, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply
Ronnie source is most certainly acceptable. Please do. Of course, if possible it would be nice for it to be backed up with third party sources but as you say she has no reason to lie and it would much improve the coverage of the article I think. I'd like to see several dozen in the list if possible, as many of which are mentioned. You can use div col if the list is more than ten so it doesn't visually affect the page length. I feel that a sound article needs a fuller coverage of more of her songs simply as a reference point for readers, ideally in chronological order. I'd list all of those mentioned in the interview, as long as there is isn't literally hundreds and thousands and it would ridiculously bloat the article. A few dozen or more than 10 of what you or she deems most notable would suffice. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:57, 14 August 2011 (UTC)Reply
List expanded with everything I could find. Hope it's enough! --Elonka 06:51, 16 August 2011 (UTC)Reply


GA review – see WP:WIAGA for criteria

  1. Is it reasonably well written?
    A. Prose quality:  
    B. MoS compliance:  
  2. Is it factually accurate and verifiable?
    A. References to sources:  
    B. Citation of reliable sources where necessary:  
    C. No original research:  
  3. Is it broad in its coverage?
    A. Major aspects:  
    B. Focused:  
  4. Is it neutral?
    Fair representation without bias:  
  5. Is it stable?
    No edit wars, etc:  
  6. Does it contain images to illustrate the topic?
    A. Images are copyright tagged, and non-free images have fair use rationales:  
    B. Images are provided where possible and appropriate, with suitable captions:  
  7. Overall:
    Pass or Fail:  

Good job, especially seems as the book sources available on Linda November seem very lacking indeed. This article could do with a lot of work, especially from the 1970s -present given the extent of her career but given the lack of sources seems to be an adequate summary. Prose could also be polished up a bit. But it is the source issue which leads me to believe this can never be developed further to FA quality. It appears to be a good summary though overall and meets the GA criteria.♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:18, 16 August 2011 (UTC)Reply

Agreed, I can't see this article ever making FA without more sources. I'm happy with GA though! Thanks for your help, --Elonka 16:42, 16 August 2011 (UTC)Reply