Jerry Keller (musician)
Encyclopedia
Jerry Keller is an American
pop
singer and songwriter
. He is best known for his 1959 million selling record
, "Here Comes Summer
."
, Oklahoma
when he was aged six, and Keller attended Tulsa's Will Rogers High School
, graduating
in 1955. He was known as a vocal soloist in various school productions, and was often invited to do guest vocals with top bands touring the area. He formed 'The Lads of Note' quartet in his teens
, joined the Tulsa Boy Singers and toured the Midwest
. Keller was educated at the University of Tulsa
. He moved to New York
in 1956, and Pat Boone
who attended the same church as Keller, sent him to see Marty Mills who became Keller's manager.
Keller's biggest self-penned hit was 1959's "Here Comes Summer
." It climbed to #14 in the Billboard Hot 100
. The record reached number one in the UK
the same year, but lack of further chart
appearances branded Keller as a one hit wonder. "Here Comes Summer" ironically reached the number one spot in the UK
in the Autumn of 1959.
He also co-wrote the song
"A Man and a Woman", which was recorded by such artists as Matt Monro
, Ella Fitzgerald
, Engelbert Humperdinck
, Johnny Mathis
and José Feliciano
. In addition he co-penned "Almost There", a successful single
for Andy Williams
, plus "How Does It Go?" recorded in 1965 by Ricky Nelson
.
In the film
arena, Keller wrote soundtrack
music
for I Saw What You Did
(1965). The Legend of Sheandoah recited by James Stewart
in Shenandoah
(1965) and Angel in My Pocket
(1969).
Keller went on to be a number one call vocalist for television jingle
s throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He also had cameo
role as the orchestra
music director
in the 1977 film You Light Up My Life.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He is best known for his 1959 million selling record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
, "Here Comes Summer
Here Comes Summer
"Here Comes Summer" was a 1959 song, which was written and performed by Jerry Keller. The song was produced for Keller by Richard Wolf. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in the UK Charts...
."
Career
Born in Arkansas, Keller's family moved to TulsaTulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 46th-largest city in the United States. With a population of 391,906 as of the 2010 census, it is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with 937,478 residents in the MSA and 988,454 in the CSA. Tulsa's...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
when he was aged six, and Keller attended Tulsa's Will Rogers High School
Will Rogers High School
Will Rogers High School, located on 3909 E. 5th Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was built by Tulsa Public Schools in 1939 using WPA workers and designed by Joseph R. Koberling, Jr. and Leon B. Senter. It was named for the humorist Will Rogers, who died in 1935 along with Wiley Post in a plane crash...
, graduating
Graduation
Graduation is the action of receiving or conferring an academic degree or the ceremony that is sometimes associated, where students become Graduates. Before the graduation, candidates are referred to as Graduands. The date of graduation is often called degree day. The graduation itself is also...
in 1955. He was known as a vocal soloist in various school productions, and was often invited to do guest vocals with top bands touring the area. He formed 'The Lads of Note' quartet in his teens
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
, joined the Tulsa Boy Singers and toured the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
. Keller was educated at the University of Tulsa
University of Tulsa
The University of Tulsa is a private university awarding bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. It is currently ranked 75th among doctoral degree granting universities in the nation by US News and World Report and is listed as one of the "Best 366 Colleges" by...
. He moved to New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in 1956, and Pat Boone
Pat Boone
Charles Eugene "Pat" Boone is an American singer, actor and writer who has been a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He covered black artists' songs and sold more copies than his black counterparts...
who attended the same church as Keller, sent him to see Marty Mills who became Keller's manager.
Keller's biggest self-penned hit was 1959's "Here Comes Summer
Here Comes Summer
"Here Comes Summer" was a 1959 song, which was written and performed by Jerry Keller. The song was produced for Keller by Richard Wolf. It reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 in the UK Charts...
." It climbed to #14 in the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The record reached number one in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
the same year, but lack of further chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
appearances branded Keller as a one hit wonder. "Here Comes Summer" ironically reached the number one spot in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in the Autumn of 1959.
He also co-wrote the song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"A Man and a Woman", which was recorded by such artists as Matt Monro
Matt Monro
Matt Monro was an English singer who became one of the most popular entertainers on the international music scene during the 1960s...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Engelbert Humperdinck
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer)
Engelbert Humperdinck is a British pop singer, best known for his hits including "Release Me " and "After the Lovin'" as well as "The Last Waltz" .-Early life:...
, Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis
John Royce "Johnny" Mathis is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standards, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts...
and José Feliciano
José Feliciano
José Feliciano is a Puerto Rican singer, virtuoso guitarist and composer known for many international hits including the 1970 holiday single "Feliz Navidad".-Childhood:...
. In addition he co-penned "Almost There", a successful single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
for Andy Williams
Andy Williams
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams is an American singer who has recorded 18 Gold- and three Platinum-certified albums. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a TV variety show, from 1962 to 1971, as well as numerous television specials, and owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri,...
, plus "How Does It Go?" recorded in 1965 by Ricky Nelson
Ricky Nelson
Eric Hilliard Nelson , better known as Ricky Nelson or Rick Nelson, was an American singer-songwriter, instrumentalist, and actor...
.
In the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
arena, Keller wrote soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
for I Saw What You Did
I Saw What You Did
I Saw What You Did is a Universal Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and John Ireland in a tale of murder. The screenplay by William P. McGivern was based upon the 1964 novel Out of the Dark by Ursula Curtiss. The film was directed and produced by William Castle, and co-produced by...
(1965). The Legend of Sheandoah recited by James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
in Shenandoah
Shenandoah (film)
Shenandoah is a 1965 American Civil War film starring James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and Katharine Ross. The picture was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. Though set during the American Civil War, the film's strong antiwar and humanitarian themes resonated with audiences...
(1965) and Angel in My Pocket
Angel in my Pocket
Angel in my Pocket is a 1969 film starring Andy Griffith and directed by Alan Rafkin. The movie was one of three originally planned by Universal Pictures to star Griffith, and also featured Lee Meriwether, Jerry Van Dyke, Kay Medford, Henry Jones, Edgar Buchanan, and Gary Collins. This film has...
(1969).
Keller went on to be a number one call vocalist for television jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
s throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He also had cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
role as the orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
in the 1977 film You Light Up My Life.
See also
- List of 1950s one-hit wonders in the United States
- One-hit wonders in the United Kingdom
- List of number-one singles from the 1950s (UK)
- UK No.1 Hits of 1959