Norma Tanega was a musician, singer, songwriter, and painter who reached worldwide recognition after the release of her 1966 hit single, "Walkin' My Cat Named Dog." In addition to her solo career, she was a songwriter for Dusty Springfield, and performed with a number of groups well into the 2000s. A painter throughout her life, Tanega first began exhibiting her work at the age of 16, and received her MFA from Claremont Graduate University in 1962, with her later work often supported by the Claremont Museum of Art. She passed away in December 2019, at the age of eighty.