Jerry Keller
Jerry Keller (born June 20, 1937 in Fort Smith , Arkansas ) is an American songwriter who went down in pop history as an interpreter with his number one hit "Here Comes Summer" as a one-hit wonder .
Career
At the age of six, Keller and his family had moved to Tulsa , where he formed a band called The Lads of Note in the first half of the 1950s . The band won a talent competition, which gave them brief appearances with the Jack Dalton Band in the American Midwest . From 1955, Keller worked as a disc jockey in Tulsa for almost a year. In 1956 he went to New York to try his luck as a singer. Here he met Pat Boone in his church , who put him in contact with Kapp Records . In 1959 he celebrated his only hit as a singer with his first single ."Here Comes Summer" was a US summer hit that reached number 14; he only came to Great Britain in the autumn, which did not detract from his popularity - on October 9, 1959 he made it to number one in the top 20.
To see Keller only as a one-hit wonder would do him an injustice. As a songwriter he was very successful, several songs, in whose creation he was involved, became hits for other performers:
- "Almost There" , place 67 for Andy Williams (written with Gloria Shayne; from the film "How to tame Eva", original title "I'd Rather Be Rich" , 1964)
- "Turn Down Day" , 16th place for The Cyrkle (with Dave Blume, 1966)
- "How Does It Go?" For Ricky Nelson (with Jay Goodis, 1965)
- “A Man and a Woman” : he wrote the English text for Francis Lai's title song in the film “ Un homme et une femme ” ; as "A Man and a Woman" the song was recorded by artists such as Matt Monro , Ella Fitzgerald , Engelbert , Johnny Mathis and José Feliciano .
As early as 1961 he had written the music for various episodes of the Everglades television series . As a film composer he wrote soundtrack music for " It happened at 8:30 am " ( "I Saw What You Did" , 1965), " Lebe das Leben " ( "Vivre pour vivre" , 1967), "The Shakiest Gun in the West" ( 1968) and "Angel in My Pocket" (1969).
During the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the most sought-after singers for television jingles. In the film, he appeared in a cameo role as an orchestra conductor in "You Light Up My Life" (1977) and in "If I Ever See You Again" (1978).
In 1970 "Here Comes Summer" - this time in the summer - was another hit in Great Britain; the single with a cover version of the Dave Clark Five rose to number 44 in July 1970.
Web links
- Sound carrier by Jerry Keller in the catalog of the German National Library
- Jerry Keller at Allmusic (English)
- Jerry Keller in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tim Rice / Jo Rice / Paul Gambaccini: The Guinness Book of Number One Hits , 2nd edition, Enfield 1988, p.47f .; ISBN 0-85112-893-9
- ↑ according to All Music Guide
- ↑ according to All Music Guide
- ↑ Mr. Music, May 17, 2004, viewed July 12, 2007
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keller, Jerry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keller, Jerry Paul (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer and songwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fort Smith , Arkansas, USA |