Articles and obituaries

Article from the 1950's
Info on the following article: Part of the title is "Jeri--A Girl Who Sings Up a South...", Ralph J. Gleason wrote it, and I have no clue which paper it's from. %-)

Today when even the most successful and secure singers seem willing to compromise their musical tastes, it is refreshing to find someone like the young girl from Royal, Neb., named Jeri Southern.

If Miss Southern couldn't sing a note, her albums and her night club appearances would be outstanding simply for the quality and taste in material. As it happens, she sings up a storm, and the result is a quite special entertainment.

JERI SOUTHERN is a converted piano player (she still accompanies herself, even occasionally on records) who began singing because an agent (bless him!) thought it would raise her salary in clubs (it did!). The voice she uses, which has made her one of the real singer's singer and a favorite with musicians and disc jockies as well as fans, is not her natural singing voice at all. "I'm a natural soprano, you know," she says. "'The Man I love' goes up to high C, so I started to sing in my speaking voice. At first it was rugged. I had a slow vibrato. But now, of course, it's a natural thing. Still, it's a phony voice, not my own singing voice at all."

Jeri Southern studied classical music with the intent of becoming a concert pianist. It wasn't until she encountered a Midwestern jazz pianist named Bobby Stevenson, who introduced her to jazz, that she changed her mind. "I knew I had to learn about it," she recalls, and her musical life has never been the same.

FOR HER SINGING Jeri Southern plays a musical accompaniment comparable to an orchestral background. This was never better illustrated than when she made a record of a song called "Something I Dreamed Last Night." Sy Oliver, who was to conduct the date, didn't know the tune so she made a tape for him and when he brought back the arrangement, it was merely an extension of her piano accompaniment.

For someone with the strict musical taste of Jeri Southern, picking songs is a problem. "I read the lyric before I look at the melody," she says. "I'm very particular about what I sing.

"A song has to have an intelligent lyric and say something regardless of what it is. In a way the melody is less important; you can always throw in different chord changes. On "Miss Johnson Phone Today" I changed all the chords in the bridge and on the other parts, and I kept working on it until it was nice, if not great.

"I've been collecting songs for years. People suggest them to me. Obscure tunes. Stuff from old shows, but no special material.

"I never rehearse anything. I sing it a couple of times until I know the lyric and I find little figures that fall in and fit right and in a couple of weeks everything is in place. My piano is a very important part of my performance. It's important in getting the effect I want. I can't just sit there thumping chords in the background. It must sound logical. Every number requires special effects."

{The article carries on, but I unfortunately don't have the rest of it.}

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An Appreciation: A Truly Unforgettable Voice by Leonard Feather:
a summary

"The voice of Jeri Southern is a sound that's hard to forget." This is how Leonard Feather starts his article on Jeri entitled, "A Truly Unforgettable Voice" that appeared in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, August 8, 1991.

Feather quotes Charles Champlin, a former Times arts editor: "That smoky sound and that special way with lyrics made her just perfect for intimate clubs. She was one of the true originals."

He relates how Jeri wasn't driven for success in her singing career due to her shyness. She turned away from a singing career and began teaching voice and piano in the 1960's.

Jeri had called Feather a few months before her death, speaking to him enthusiastically about a protégé, David Silverman. Feather went to one of David's performances and says that "her enthusiasm seemed justified."

Feather quotes Silverman as saying, "What's so ironic is that Jeri had finally decided to go back into the studio to make a piano solo album of songs by Arthur Schwartz. She even had the studio booked."

To end his article, Feather quotes Mel Torme: "I had enormous admiration for her. She was one of those people like Shirley Horn, Sarah Vaughan and Blossom Dearle. In other words, along with a fine singer, we truly lost a wonderful musician."

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Obituary from the L.A. Times
You'll notice that they say Jeri was born in Omaha--she wasn't. She was born in Royal, Nebraska.

Jeri Southern; Sang in Clubs, on Recordings
From the Los Angeles Times, Monday, August 5, 1991

Jeri Southern, the classically trained pianist who became a jazz-oriented vocalist in the 1950s, died Sunday.

Miss Southern, whose 1950s hit "You Better Go Now" proved the most successful of her several recordings, died in a Los Angeles hospital of respiratory complications. She would have been 65 today.

Born in Omaha, she began 15 years of classical piano study at age 5 but drifted into popular music, becoming a nightclub performer in Chicago around 1950.

Her casual, chancy style made her a favorite at lounges, including several in Hollywood, where she moved about 1960.

Leonard Feather, The Times' arts critic, said that she was basically a shy person who did not enjoy performing in public. She quit entertaining in the early 1960s to teach voice and had lived in the Hollywood Hills.

Her other single recordings include "Dancing on the Ceiling," "I Saw You Again," and "When I Fall in Love," in addition to several albums.

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Obituary from Omaha World Herald
You'll notice that they say she was born "Genevieva"--was really "Genevieve".
 
Singer Jeri Southern Dies; Nebraska Native
Los Angeles (AP) -- Singer Jeri Southern, whose casual vocal style made a hit of "You Better Go Now" has died one day short of her 65th birthday, her publicist said Monday.

Miss Southern died Sunday of pneumonia at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, Alan Eicher said.

Miss Southern's "You Better Go Now" in 1951 began a string of hits that included "When I Fall in Love," "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "I Saw You Again."

Born Genevieva Hering in Royal, Neb., Aug. 5, 1926, Miss Southern began studying classical piano at age 5. She graduated from Notre Dame Academy in Omaha in 1943 and eventually played Chicago nightclubs as an intermission pianist before starting her singing career.

Obituary from the Detroit Free Press, August 6, 1991

Smoky-voiced singer Jeri Southern, 64, who had a string of recording hits in the 1950's, including "You Better Go Now" and "When I Fall in Love", died Sunday of respiratory failure at a Los Angeles hospital where she was being treated for pneumonia.

Mrs. Southern began her career as a classical pianist, then switched to popular music in 1950.

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Obituary from The Associated Press--printed in The Orange County Register, Tuesday, August 6, 1991
 
Jazz vocalist made 'You Better Go Now' a hit

LOS ANGELES - Jazz vocalist Jeri Southern, whose casual singing style made a hit of "You Better Go Now," has died one day short of her 65th birthday.

Miss Southern died of pneumonia Sunday at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, her publicist, Alan Eicher, said Monday.

Miss Southern's "You Better Go Now" in 1951 launched a string of hits that included "When I Fall in Love," "Dancing on the Ceiling" and "I Saw You Again."

Survivors include a daughter, record producer Kathryn King of New York, and two grandchildren.

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Obituary from an unknown paper

JERI SOUTHERN, 64, a smoky-voiced singer who had a string of recording hits in the 1950s including You Better Go Now and When I Fall in Love, died Sunday in Los Angeles of respiratory complications. Miss Southern, who began her career as a classical pianist, switched to popular music in 1950 and soon was a star attraction in nightclubs in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Her other hit singles included Dancing on the Ceiling and I Saw You Again.

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From the Neligh News and Leader, Neligh, Nebraska, August 14, 1991

Jeri Southern

Funeral services were held for singer Jeri Southern, formerly of Royal, on Friday, Aug. 9, 1991, at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, at Los Angeles, Calif.

She died Aug. 4 at Queen of Angels Hospital, Hollywood, Calif. of pneumonia.

The former Genevieve Hering, she was born Aug. 5, 1926, at Royal, the daughter of Roy J. and Agnes Brown Hering. After attending elementary school in Royal, she graduated from Notre Dame High School in Omaha.

She taught piano at the George Johnson Studios and performed as a pianist in Omaha night clubs. She began her singing career in Chicago in the late 1940s, recording under London, Decca, Capitol and other labels. She appeared in several movies and on the Steve Allen "Tonight" TV show and performed with USO and Birdland Jazz tours, as well as in many night clubs throughout the U.S. Her book, "Interpreting Popular Music at the Piano" was published in 1972.

In recent years she had been coaching voice and piano lessons and writing music in Hollywood where she resided.

She was preceded in death by her parents; a sister, Margaret; and two brothers, Robert and Joseph.

Survivors include one daughter, Kathryn King (Mrs. Michael Willens); grandchildren, Max and Natalie Willens, all of New York City, N.Y.; two sisters, Mary Hering of Norfolk an Helen Meuwissen of Northville, N.Y.; three nieces and three nephews.

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Last update: Feb. 2001