Darby Bailey
Born
Salt Lake City, Utah, US
NationalityAmerican
Other namesDarby, Darby McDonough
Alma materRegent University, Antioch University Los Angeles, University of Utah, Western Governors University
Occupation(s)Voice actor, Musician, Information Technologist, Songwriter, and Businesswoman
Years active1999–present
Known forVoice of Tellme, Amex, Verizon and AT&T 4-1-1

Darby Bailey is an American actress, Ph.D. candidate, Information Technologist, voice-over artist, musician, songwriter, writer/producer, and businesswoman.[1] She is most known as the 'Voice of Tellme' and the voice of Verizon[2] and AT&T's 4-1-1 Directory Assistance.[3] Her voice has been heard trillions of times by telephone callers in the U.S. since she first started voicing phone systems in 1999.[4]

Career

While most known for being the 'Voice of Tellme' and Verizon and AT&T's 4-1-1,[5][6] she is also the entry voice to various interactive voice response (IVR) systems for American Express, Fidelity Investments, United Parcel Service and inside Ford Sync enabled automobiles.[7] She also voiced Utah's 511 Travel Line to coincide with the 2002 Winter Olympics.[8] Her voice has been heard billions of times in the United States by callers using Tellme built systems. She is known for her winsome voice.[9][10]

In popular culture

On October 8, 2005, in a Saturday Night Live sketch called 'Julie The Operator Lady' her voice was parodied, as she was at the time, voicing a broad number of phone services, including being the first voice actor to voice both the 1-800-FANDANGO movie phone ticketing system and the Orbitz Travel alert systems,[11] as well as the first voice interactive version of the AT&T, 1-800-555-1212, Directory Assistance line[12]

Darby appeared as herself in a 2003 television episode of CBS news program Sunday Morning where she was interviewed by David Pogue for her work voicing speech enabled telephone systems.

References

  1. ^ "Darby Bailey Official Site". Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  2. ^ Weingerten, Gene. "Directory Persistence helps find Darby". Star-News.
  3. ^ "MACHINE OPERATORS". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  4. ^ Markoff, John (October 9, 2006). "Tellme and Cingular Plan Broader Directory Service". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  5. ^ "Voices in increasing demand for phone automation; Speech recognition:Technology replaces touch-tone menus to route calls and perform other functions over the phone". Telegraph Herald. July 21, 2002. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  6. ^ Weingarten, Gene (March 26, 2006). "Directory Persistence ... in which Gene stalks a smooth operator". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  7. ^ Wong, May. "Voices a growing commodity in phone automation". Berkeley Daily Planet. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  8. ^ "Punch 511 for word on traffic". Deseret News. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  9. ^ "The Voice of the Future", Peltz, Michael, 'Worth Magazine', February 2001
  10. ^ "Verizon's New 411 System: Is It a Live Operator, or Is It 'Darby'?". Speech Technology. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  11. ^ "Voice technology easing transactions". USA Today. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  12. ^ "OK, here's the 411". Boston.com. Retrieved March 16, 2016.

External links

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