Anita Kerr

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Anita Kerr, 1974

Anita Kerr (* 13. October 1927 as Anita Jean Grilli in Memphis , Tennessee ) is an American with three Grammys excellent singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist and record producer.

Life

Kerr grew up as the daughter of Italian-American parents with a musical background. She received classical piano lessons at the age of four and at nine she played the pipe organ in church every morning. At that time, she also began writing vocal arrangements.

Kerr started her professional music career in the late 1940s when she moved to Nashville. Here she led an eight-member choir group on the regional radio show Sunday Down South. In the early 1950s she founded The Anita Kerr Quartet , which would later record many successful easy-listening albums as The Anita Kerr Singers . At the same time, Kerr rose to become one of the leading arrangers and producers in Nashville. Here she significantly shaped the Nashville sound and was responsible for productions for country stars such as Jim Reeves , Chet Atkins , Hank Locklin and Skeeter Davis. In the background, Kerr and her singers have been heard on countless country records as well as on albums by pop greats such as Perry Como , Rosemary Clooney , Roy Orbison and Pat Boone .

Kerr had a first hit with the doo-wop group The Little Dippers : Forever reached number nine on the US singles charts in 1960. Under another pseudonym, Anita And Th 'So-And-So’s , Kerr achieved 91st place in the USA in 1962 with the single Joey Baby . With the Anita Kerr Singers, she got three hits in the easy listening charts in 1967: I Can't Help Remembering You , In the Morning and One in a Row .

The Anita Kerr Singers recorded a series of concept albums dedicated to selected composers and singers: We Dig Mancini (1965) Bert Kaempfert Turns Us On! (1967), I Sang With Jim Reeves (1968), The Anita Kerr Singers Reflect On The Hits Of Burt Bacharach & Hal David (1969), Simon And Garfunkel Songbook (1971) and Anita Kerr Performs Wonders (1979)

Between 1963 and 1978, Kerr was nominated for a total of seven Grammys. She was able to receive it three times. In particular, the two awards in 1965 and 1966 were discussed controversially, as Kerr and her singing group were able to prevail in the Best Performance by a Vocal Group category against the biggest pop bands of the time, such as the Beatles and Beach Boys .

Kerr moved to Switzerland in 1970 and was regularly releasing records through the end of the decade. Musically she devoted herself increasingly to Christian pop and gospel music.

In 1985 she composed the title Piano, piano , which was submitted as a Swiss contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest . With a text by Trudi Müller-Bosshard and the interpreters Mariella Farré and Pino Gasparini , the song reached number 12. Kerr was the third woman to lead the orchestra. To date this was the last time a woman conducted the orchestra.

In 1992, Kerr received the NARAS Governors Award in “Recognition of Her Outstanding Contribution to American Music”.

According to her website, Kerr lives in Geneva and is still musically active, but is mostly devoted to her two daughters and five grandchildren.

Web links

Commons : Anita Kerr  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anita Kerr. Retrieved November 26, 2019 .
  2. ↑ The Anita Kerr Singers Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Retrieved November 26, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Anita Kerr. November 19, 2019, accessed November 26, 2019 .
  4. ^ And the conductor is ... | ... a website dedicated to all conductors of the Eurovision Song Contest. Retrieved November 26, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Kerr, Anita
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Grilli, Anita Jean (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist and music producer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Memphis , Tennessee