Cynthia "Cindy" Fee | |
---|---|
Born | December 6, 1954 (age 69) Detroit, Michigan |
Occupation | Recording Artist |
Period | 1970–Current |
Notable works | "Thank You For Being a Friend," from the NBC sitcom, "The Golden Girls" |
Cynthia L. "Cindy" Fee (born December 6, 1954) is an American singer and recording artist. She is best known for performing, "Thank You For Being a Friend",[1][2][3] the opening theme song for the Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning sitcom,[4][5] The Golden Girls.
Cynthia L. "Cindy" Fee was born in Detroit, Michigan and grew up in Raytown, Missouri, where she was active in music and theater at Raytown High School.[6]
Fee started performing professionally at the age of sixteen, working Kansas City area restaurants, clubs, local theaters, and amusement parks. In 1973, Fee became a founding member, along with Eric Bikales, of the Kansas City band Hotfoot[7] and also sang with the jazz group, the Means/Devan Trio.[8]
Between 1985 and 1992, up to 25 million viewers[9][better source needed] tuned in weekly to the NBC television series, The Golden Girls, bringing the voice of Cindy Fee singing the Andrew Gould song, "Thank You For Being a Friend," to a national audience every Saturday night.[10] The show, and Fee's theme song, became so iconic that even U.S. President Barack Obama released a video of him[11] "grooving" to Fee's performance.[11] After The Golden Girls' star Betty White's death in 2021,[12] the popular sitcom and Fee's opening theme song was streamed 384 million times in one week alone.[13] During the COVID-19 "Lockdown TV Phenomenon"[14] in 2020, Hulu viewers streamed 11 million hours of The Golden Girls in April alone, providing extensive renewed exposure to Fee's performance.[14] Despite the show's more than 30-year tenure, The Golden Girls continues to attract a mass audience and Fee remains a fan-favorite. After going viral in 2022,[15] the Golden Con Convention,[16] which celebrates the popular sitcom, returned to Chicago in 2023 featuring Fee as a headline performer.[16]
Fee also recorded chart-topping records with some of the best-selling music artists of all time.[17] Her discography includes the duet with Kenny Rogers, "I Don't Want to Know Why"[18] from the platinum selling album, What About Me?[19] Fee is also a credited background singer on the album, Kenny Rogers — Christmas[20] which peaked at #34 on U.S. charts[21] and Share Your Love, the Kenny Rogers album that peaked at #6 on U.S. charts.[22] She also performed as a background singer for Garth Brooks, Dolly Parton, Whitney Houston, and Lionel Richie.[6] Fee also released her own albums Dancin In My Sleep[23] and Young at Heart,[24][25] the latter with noted rockabilly guitarist, Eddie Angel,[26] founding member of Los Straitjackets.
Fee is also a prolific jingle and TV commercial singer. Fee's commercial jingle credits include: for Hoover Vacuum "Nobody Does it Like You"[27][28] "Get on Your Pontiac and Ride",[1] and "What the Big Boys Eat",[29] from the Wheaties cereal campaign. Fee's voice was also featured in commercials for Chevy Trucks, McDonald's, Miller Beer, Chick-fil-A, Home Depot, Goodyear, Hot Pockets, Barbie, John Deere, NASCAR, Ford, Toyota, Purina, Avon, and American Airlines.[6] Fee's Wheaties and Hoover commercials were awarded Clio awards.[6][30][31]
She is married to Robert Landis and has two adult children, Ethan and Rory Landis. Fee frequently performs a genre she calls, "country soul", a combination of Motown and country,[2] and has appeared live at venues including in Nashville, Chicago, Los Angeles, and in Europe. She is frequently recognized at events and conventions and interviewed about her career.[32]