{"id":529175,"date":"2026-03-17T17:42:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529175\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:42:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:42:07","slug":"867-5309-number-from-1980s-hit-song-jenny-now-routes-callers-to-cancer-support-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/529175\/","title":{"rendered":"867-5309: number from 1980s hit song Jenny now routes callers to cancer support | US news"},"content":{"rendered":"

The telephone number immortalized in the enduring Tommy Tutone hit song 867-5309\/Jenny<\/a> has started connecting callers to a cancer<\/a> support line \u2013 as one ad touting the news says it was time that music<\/a>\u2019s most famous digits \u201cdid some good\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cancer Support Community (CSC)\u2019s Instagram page announced the campaign with a series of posts on Monday alluding to the song about a guy who nervously ponders calling the phone number of a woman named Jenny, which is scrawled on a bathroom wall.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number you and your friends sing at karaoke is now the number for cancer support,\u201d one<\/a> of the posts said, with the 1980s rock classic blaring in the background.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, at the website csc8675309.com<\/a>, a prominently featured radio ad with a voice purporting to belong to the song\u2019s protagonist explains: \u201cHey, it\u2019s Jenny \u2013 yeah, that Jenny. People call my number all the time to see who picks up \u2013 they were dared, karaoke, bachelor parties, road trips. And I love that you all know my number better than your own mother\u2019s. But it\u2019s time this number did some good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m forwarding 867-5309 to the Cancer Support Community help line.\u201d<\/p>\n

The telephonic help line at 1-CSC-867-5309 provides free access to professionals with information about resources and education to patients and their caregivers, along with support for affected children, the ad explains.<\/p>\n

Another ad on the site with the same voice riffs off the famed lyric, \u201cJenny, who can I turn to?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just a girl in a song,\u201d the voice continues. \u201cBut since you have my number memorized better than your social security one, I\u2019m forwarding it to someone who actually wants to be called.\u201d<\/p>\n

CSC said it organized the line in collaboration with Gilda\u2019s Club, a group founded in honor of the actor Gilda Radner, who died from ovarian cancer in 1989.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in an interview with People<\/a> published on Monday, Tommy Tutone singer Tommy Heath said one of the main reasons he supported pairing his band\u2019s signature with CSC and Gilda\u2019s Club\u2019s campaign was because he had \u201csome family members who are struggling with cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n

He told the outlet that he was grappling with \u201cminor\u201d skin cancer himself \u2013 and that the disease tends to attack unexpectedly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m out on tour with a lot of bands and suddenly somebody\u2019s not there,\u201d Heath was quoted as saying. Cancer \u201cis affecting us all\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

Heath suggested in his comments to People that it would please him if 867-5309\/Jenny\u2019s association with CSC and Gilda\u2019s Club became as known as its prominence in US pop culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be happy if this \u2026 made people smile and [gave] them hope,\u201d Heath said. \u201cI\u2019m pretty proud to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the Guardian wrote<\/a> in 2018, many US phone companies considered the number in the repetitive chorus of 867-5309\/Jenny off-limits<\/a> after it peaked at No 4 in the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1982 due to the excessive amount of cold calls it inevitably generated.<\/p>\n

One radio station nonetheless did manage to acquire the number \u2013 and it reportedly received<\/a> 22,000 calls in just four days.<\/p>\n