ArtistInfo

Linda Griner

voc,
Singer of R&B/Soul and Electronic
A.k.a. Lyn Roman

Teenage singer and model Linda Griner had just one single released on Motown; despite rumours of an entire album’s worth of recorded material, only one other track has surfaced to date. Griner hailed from Washington D.C., where she caught Motown’s attention as the local support act for The Miracles show in the capital in 1963. Smokey Robinson, a keen judge of talent, signed her up on the spot. Unfortunately for all concerned, the contract she signed turned out to be invalid, due to her having only recently turned 15 years old and therefore needing parental consent, which was not forthcoming while Linda was still in school. After initially offering to wait until she was old enough, Motown soon cooled on the idea; the company racked up eight Number One hit singles between Linda’s recording sessions and Linda’s eventual graduation, and by then the company was no longer interested. Miss Griner nonetheless enjoyed a lengthy recording career in the Sixties and Seventies as “Lyn Roman”, recording a whole stack of fine records on various labels, among them a disco anthem for the ages in Stop, I Don’t Need No Sympathy for Carl Davis on Brunswick in 1974. Her solitary Motown single found favour on the Northern Soul scene in Britain.

Genres

• R&B/Soul
• Electronic