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I know those cats! Meet the voices behind ''Josie and the Pussycats''
The voices behind the Pussycats included a Motown star, one of Charlie's Angels, and Judy Jetson!
For a show that only ran for 16 episodes, Josie and the Pussycats has a surprisingly large cast, with two voice actors per Pussycat. Josie, Melody, and Valerie each got a speaking actor and a singing actor, to really hone in on the musical performance of the band. Each of the voice actors brought experience from different backgrounds; from the country music world to Motown to Charlie's Angels. Almost all of the voice actors are recognizable from other shows and movies, so let's see if you recognize the voices behind Josie and the Pussycats.
Voicing Josie was Janet Waldo, a veteran of the cartoon voice acting world. She also played Judy Jetson in The Jetsons, Penelope Pitstop in Wacky Races and The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, and Granny Sweet in The Atom Ant Show. She provided additional voices to tons of cartoons including The New Tom and Jerry Show, Jabberjaw, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, and many more. By the time she was cast as Josie, Waldo had been a cartoon voice actor for nearly seven years. Janet Waldo was a cornerstone of the golden age of animation, which made her the perfect fit to star as the leading role on Josie and the Pussycats.
Jackie Joseph was Melody's speaking voice actor and you might remember her from The Andy Griffith Show or The Gremlins. One of her first roles was Audrey in the 1960 original Little Shop of Horrors. After Josie and the Pussycats she was cast in The Doris Day Show and in The Gremlins. While she had not acted in any cartoons before Josie and the Pussycats, she went on to voice characters in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, and more.
Barbara Pariot was Valerie's speaking voice actor and Valerie was Pariot's first cartoon role. Barbara came from a more traditional television acting background, having appeared on Bonanza and The Bill Cosby Show. Valerie was a character of historic proportions because she was the first Black cartoon character that was also a main character on a Saturday morning cartoon show. Valerie was also the first Black cartoon character voiced by Black actors. As an actor, Pariot also appeared in The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Days of Our Lives, and Sister, Sister. Pariot is also a costume designer and designed the costumes on Living in TV Land.
For the singing voices, Hanna-Barbera teamed up with Capitol Records and auditioned over 500 vocalists. They decided to form the vocalists into a band that would go on tour as Josie and the Pussycats and perform to promote the television show.
Patrice Holloway was Valerie's singing voice and she was also the main singer for most of the songs on the show, including the theme song. Holloway was an experienced singer who had performed background vocals for Diana Ross & the Supremes, Joe Crocker, and many other rock bands. She was also an experienced songwriter and cowrote the hit single "You've Made Me So Very Happy" with her older sister, Motown singer Brenda Holloway. The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has since been covered by tons of other artists including Cher and Liza Minelli. Holloway also performed in two different bands, The Blackberries and the Ikettes. She had signed with Capitol Records as a solo artist in 1965 and had recorded several singles for them before being tapped to sing in Josie and the Pussycats.
Cheryl Ladd was cast as Melody's singing voice. Like Holloway, she came to the role from a music background. She had moved to Hollywood from South Dakota with her country and western band, The Music Shop, which broke up shortly after arriving in Hollywood. After Josie and the Pussycats, Ladd was cast as another famous blonde, Kris Munroe on Charlie's Angels, replacing Farrah Fawcett. She also released four studio albums and had one top 100 single, "Think It Over". The biggest mystery of the cast is the singing voice of Josie herself: Cathy Douglas. She also has gone by Cathy Dougher and Kathleen Dougherty. While she was cast as the lead singer, Douglas usually performed partial lead vocals and let the other members sing lead. Not much is known about Douglas except that she appeared in Riders of the Pony Express as Judy Blair.
