You will never forget some people and their great deeds: Gutenberg and his press, Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, Donald Trump and the roiling pit of despair in your very soul, and countless others who have impacted your life in profound ways. Some of them, you've never even heard of. Let's celebrate five of those invisible others, shall we?

5 Carolyn Hopkins Tells You To Do ... Everything

You've no doubt heard a friendly, yet stern voice telling you to stand clear of the doors, how many stops you are from Times Square or, for the sake of God and country, stand to the right if you're just going to plant up on the moving walkways. And if you've ever paid close enough attention, you've noticed that the voice in question sounds awfully similar, whether it's booming at you in beautiful, meth-addled Spokane, or the ass-end of Long Island.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

That's not because it's some hi-tech computer amalgamation of everybody's mom. It's the same voice: former Kentucky soul singer Carolyn Hopkins.



Her kids must have loved getting told what to do.

Once the lead singer of Louisville band the Chaparrals, Hopkins later used her voice talents to transition to Innovative Electronic Designs, better known by the unfortunate acronym IED. One of her first tasks was lending her soothing, yet cautionary voice to Disney's Typhoon Lagoon waterpark. In the decades since, she's become the voice of hundreds of airports, subway systems, ferries, production plants ... not to mention the Kennedy Space Center, and all 26 buildings at the U.S. Capitol. As she puts it, "I'm very good at telling people to get the heck out of a place when it's on fire."