Born in Queens, New York, Linda Sampson was 11 years old when she moved with her family to Teaneck, New Jersey. She was still in school (Teaneck High School) when she auditioned to appear on Arthur Godfrey’s popular CBS Radio show in 1959. After having won a place on the show, Scott and other young performers became regular guests. During the show’s run, the singer came to the attention of Epic Records, and Scott made her recording debut (singing as Linda Sampson) with the single, “In-Between Teen”.

Though still in high school, in 1961 she signed with Canadian-American Records, which had struck gold with the Santo & Johnny’s “Sleep Walk”. The label changed her performing name to Linda Scott, producing and releasing the hit “I’ve Told Every Little Star,” a standard written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern for their 1932 production Music In The Air. The track sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc for Scott.

Scott’s three biggest hits came in that first year, with “I’ve Told Every Little Star” (U.S. #3), “I Don’t Know Why” (U.S. #12), and “Don’t Bet Money Honey” (U.S. #9). The first two were standards, while the third was one of Scott’s own compositions. Scott also charted with a song that peaked at #44 on the Billboard charts with Starlight, Starbright, which peaked on August 28, 1961. It was mostly a regional song played in the Northeast.

Scott was the showcase artist when Canadian-American started a subsidiary label, Congress Records, in 1962, and in fact both labels released new material of hers simultaneously. The following year, she sang her hit “Yessirree” in the Chubby Checker film, Don’t Knock the Twist.

In 1963, American Bandstand signed Scott to Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars national U.S. tour which was scheduled to perform its 15th show on the night of November 22, 1963 at the Memorial Auditorium in Dallas, Texas until the Friday evening event had to be suddenly cancelled moments after U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated that afternoon while touring Dallas in an open car caravan.

Scott’s final U.S. chart appearance was “Who’s Been Sleeping In My Bed,” released in January 1964, the same month that The Beatles made their first chart appearance. In 1965, she became a cast member of the variety show Where the Action Is, which she co-hosted with singer Steve Alaimo. Her last U.S. recording, “They Don’t Know You”, was released in 1967 on RCA Records. She continued to record as a backing vocalist (most notably on Lou Christie’s 1969 hit, “I’m Gonna Make You Mine”) before finally quitting show business in the early 1970s.

Scott was an army laboratory technician for two years, stationed in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, and received a degree in Theology from Kingsway Christian College and Theological Seminary in Des Moines, Iowa, according to an interview she gave to Goldmine in 1987. During her time in the army, she met and married a fellow serviceman. The marriage produced one child in 1973 and ended in divorce. She later taught music at the Christian Academy in New York City.

The compilation CD, The Complete Hits of Linda Scott, was released by Eric Records in 1995; while her recording of “I’ve Told Every Little Star” was included in director David Lynch’s film, Mulholland Drive.