Norma Cecilia Tanega (January 30, 1939 – December 29, 2019) was an American folk and pop singer-songwriter, painter, and experimental musician. In the 1960s she had a hit with the single "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog" and wrote songs for Dusty Springfield and other prominent musicians. In later decades Tanega worked mostly as a percussionist, playing various styles of music in the bands Baboonz, hybridVigor, and Ceramic Ensemble.
Tanega began classical piano lessons at age nine. She entered Long Beach Polytechnic High School in 1952 and in her senior year directed the school's art gallery. By age 16 she was exhibiting her paintings at both Long Beach's Public Library and its Municipal Art Center, playing Beethoven and Bartók at piano recitals, and writing poetry. At age 17 she entered Scripps College on a scholarship and continued her studies at Claremont Graduate School, achieving an MFA in 1962. After spending a summer backpacking around Europe,she moved to New York City to pursue her artistic career. Living in Greenwich Village she became involved in the folk music scene and political activism, including early opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War. Tanega worked for a short time at a mental hospital, where she sang and played songs for patients. She spent her summers working as a camp counselor upstate in the Catskill Mountains. One summer Brooklyn-based record producer Herb Bernstein happened to be visiting the camp and saw Tanega performing some of her songs. Impressed by what he saw, Bernstein took her to meet Four Seasons songwriter Bob Crewe.
Her first single, "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog", went on to be an international hit in 1966, peaking at number 22 on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Charts, and #3 in Canada. Tanega's impetus for the song came from living in a New York City apartment building that didn't allow dogs, so she kept a cat instead, named the cat "dog" and took the cat out for walks. The single's success landed her appearances on American Bandstand and Where the Action Is, and also a slot as the only woman on a North American tour with Gene Pitney, Bobby Goldsboro, Chad and Jeremy and The McCoys. On that tour Tanega was initially backed up by members of The Outsiders, who ended up not being able to follow Tanega's more idiosyncratic music and she had to take on session musicians to accompany her onstage. While some of her songs riffed off of traditional tunes like "Hey Girl", derived from Lead Belly's take on "In the Pines", many of her songs diverged from the structure of typical pop and folk music, such as her song "No Stranger Am I", set to a 5/4 time signature.
In 1966 Tanega traveled to England to promote her music. Her tour included a performance on the ITV program Ready Steady Go!, where she met British pop singer Dusty Springfield. On a visit to New York, Springfield entered a romantic relationship with Tanega, and the two went back to England and lived together for five years. The couple took up residence in London's Kensington district where Tanega continued to paint and play music. She contributed guitar tracks to Springfield's 1967 album Where Am I Going? and Springfield recorded many of Tanega's songs. These included "No Stranger Am I", the 5/4 number that originally appeared on Tanega's first album; "The Colour of Your Eyes", which Tanega wrote for Springfield in Venice, Los Angeles; "Earthbound Gypsy" and "Midnight Sounds", both co-written in New York with Tanega's high school friend Dan White; and "Come for a Dream", co-written with bossa nova musician Antônio Carlos Jobim. Tanega also penned the English language lyrics for Springfield's version of "Morning", a cover of the song "Bom Dia" by Gilberto Gil and Nana Caymmi. In 1970 Tanega teamed up with jazz pianist Blossom Dearie to write a song about Springfield for Dearie's album That's Just the Way I Want to Be.
In 1972 Tanega moved back to Claremont, California and took jobs teaching both music and English as a second language. She returned to painting and exhibiting her artwork. Musically she switched from playing guitar to percussion and her style evolved from folk-rock singer-songwriting to more instrumental and experimental music. In the 1980s she was a member of Scripps ceramics professor Brian Ransom's Ceramic Ensemble, a group that played Ransom's handmade earthenware instruments. Over the years Ceramic Ensemble played at universities, folk festivals, and art museums. In the 1990s Tanega founded the group hybridVigor, starting as a duo with Mike Henderson for their first album, then expanding to a trio with the addition of Rebecca Jamm for their second album. In 1998 Tanega formed the Latin Lizards with Robert Grajeda, and the duo released the album Dangerous in 2003. Her next band was called Baboonz with guitarist Tom Skelly and bassist Mario Verlangieri. The trio released a self-titled CD in 2008, the album HA! In 2009, and a third called 8 Songs Ate Brains in 2010. Other recording projects soon followed, including the album Push with John Zeretzke, Twin Journey with Steve Rushingwind Ruiz, and a return collaboration with Ceramic Ensemble sound sculptor Brian Ransom for their album Internal Medicine.
Tanega died on December 29, 2019, at her home in Claremont, California, aged 80.
