[3][1] Her father, Anthony J. Pampinella, operated a gasoline station there, and her mother was Pauline A. Biase, whose family ran an Italian restaurant.
[4] Her debut album, I Think of You with Every Breath I Take, was released in 1955 when she was 21, and featured Hank Jones, Joe Wilder, Wendell Marshall, Kenny Clarke, and Herbie Mann (uncredited).
[10] She recorded thousands of jingles, often for low pay, although her fortunes changed when she sang an arrangement of the 1930s Campbell's Soup "M'm M'm Good" song, which became widely known.
[3] VerPlanck also sang backup for Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme, and she performed around the United States and internationally as a cabaret singer.
She specialized in the Great American Songbook, especially the works of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers, and gained a reputation as one of the most accomplished interpreters of the genre.