One-hit wonder Meri Wilson Edgemon

The double entendre was the stock-in-trade of singer Meri Wilson, whose married name was Edgemon. Her singular hit was the novelty song Telephone Man, from 1976. This funny, suggestive song's lyrics tell the story of how more than just a telephone was installed at the singer's apartment by a randy telephone man. Mari's voice, with its built-in leer, was, as the Three Bears once said, "just right" for relating this dalliance. Even the silly refrain, "Singin' do lolly, lolly, shicky bum, shicky bum" somehow worked.

Edgemon, who held both a bachelor's and master's degree in music and played guitar, cello piano and flute, worked nightclubs, recorded commercial jingles and was a choral director in addition to her recording of novelty songs. Two of her last numbers were a modernized version of Telephone Man, Internet Man, and another little number about a cross dresser titled My Valentine's Funny. The audicious Edgemon died tragically in 2002 at age 53 in an automobile wreck during a Georgia ice storm.