Draft:Jerri Adams

Jerri Adams (born Doris May Balsly on 05/20/1927) was an American popular singer. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was the daughter of Leonidas George Balsly (1898-1961), a machinist, and Gladys Weber (1900-1969), a homemaker. She had two younger sisters, Jean and Margaret (Margie), an older brother Charles, and an older sister Helen, who died as an infant. Gladys played ragtime jazz on a the family piano and encouraged Doris to sing and also imitate Mae West. Doris credited her mother for being the biggest influence on her future musical career. Always shy as a youngster, one of her favorite teachers, Jeannie Pace, pushed her to perform. Under her guidance, Doris wrote a play that was performed at her elementary school.

Doris decided very young that singing was the only career she wanted to pursue. As a teenager, she attended Norwood High School and joined the glee club. During high school, she worked afternoons in a drug store and evenings in nightclubs. The $2 she earned singing was used to buy dresses for performances. She also worked in a lawyer's office between singing engagements. After graduating from high school in 1945, her intention was to attend the University of Cincinnati, but the family's lack of financial resources made that impossible. She continued singing with a band led by Gardner Benedict (who was local to Cincinnati), performing around Ohio and Florida. After leaving Benedict's band, she worked with the Teddy Raymore Quartet made up of Ted Raikel, Larry Gilbert, Lee Tompkins and Ernie Mariani. Raikel was a local musician who attended her high school. Because Raikel didn't want to tour outside of Ohio, the other members left the band, reformed as a harmony group and christened themselves the Tattletales.

The Tattletales recorded two singles in 1953 on Dizzy Gillespie's short-lived record label, Dee Gee Records. The band got some recognition and good reviews in the music trades. Billboard reviewed their single Why Do You Have To Go Home on 2/7/53 (with lyrics by Larry Gilbert and music by Lee Tompkins) and described Jerri as a “fine, unbilled thrush whispering an intimate love ditty in a sexy manner.” June Christy also released a version of the song on Capitol Records that same year. The Tattletales toured in Detroit and other cities around the U.S. and occasionally appeared on television, including American Bandstand. In 1953, Jerri recorded her first solo single on Dee Gee, called You-oo-oo/With You. Billboard reviewed the single and said Jerri did a “fine, musicianly performance” and that her “breathy style bears watching.”

Frankie Laine attended one of the Tattletales' shows and was impressed with Jerri's voice. Already a recording star on Columbia Records, Laine reached out to Mitch Miller at Columbia Records to persuade him to sign the Tattletales to a recording contract. Columbia signed Jerri as a solo artist instead and released her first single on the label in December 1953, Why Tell A Lie/Moonlight in Vermont. According to Jerri, she recorded Moonlight in Vermont in an old church to get the interesting background sound. Billboard reviewed the single in their December 5th edition, giving it high marks. They said “she has impressive vocal control, which gives a persuasive quality to her interpretation. This singer bears watching.” Meanwhile, Columbia signed the Tattletales to record several singles between 1954-1955 (by this time, Irene Kral had taken over lead vocals). The Tattletales later provided background vocals for Jerri's single Snow Dreams in 1955 and performed in Las Vegas.

Percy Faith heard her version of Moonlight in Vermont and asked to work with her. With Faith, she recorded Happiness is a Thing Called Joe with his orchestra, a song he heard her sing in Atlantic City. This was the first time she recorded with such a large band. Cashbox, in their review of the single, said that Jerri rendered the song with “deep meaning” and that “she sings with a great deal of feeling.” Her singles consistently garnered good reviews in music magazines, with her singing consistently highlighted for its emotional delivery.

A highlight of her career was a Columbia Records showcase that including performances by Jerry Vale, Eileen Rodgers and Tony Bennett. Her performance of Love for Sale was the highlight of the event. She continued to perform in clubs throughout the United States, including the Cave Supper Club in Vancouver, WA and the San Su Sands Club in New York. She also toured briefly with Frankie Laine in Chicago (where she was announced as his protege) and Stan Kenton in Florida and performed in Canada and Hawaii. In February 1955, she did a week engagement in Sydney Australia with Frankie Laine at the Sydney Stadium. Her review was particularly positive in a November engagement at the Club One-Two in Toronto, Canada where she “wowed patrons especially with her delivery of the song Love for Sale.” She was called “a great gal with talent to match.”  She also co-hosted disk jockey John Scott's 4 hour radio show in Boston on November 26, 1955 along with Jerry Vale and Roy Hamilton. In the June 9th 1955 issue of Cashbox magazine, disk jockeys voted Jerri as the 9th Most Promising Up and Coming Female vocalist in their poll. In 1956, she legally changed her name to Jerri Adams.

Columbia Records released her first album, It's Cool Inside, in November 1956 under the direction of Lou Stein. In its review, Billboard Magazine said “singing is relaxed and agreeable for the most part though the style is not jazz as billed. The backings border on contemporary jazz but the vocals come closer to a torchy quality both as to selection and delivery.” Jerri toured around the U.S. in many cities, promoting the album in clubs and on record stations.

She met her future husband Art Miller when she was under contract to Columbia Records. He was a local regional manager of Columbia/CBS in Cincinnati. When she was in town promoting her music, Art accompanied her to various radio stations to do interviews. They started dating and married in 1958, the same year Jerri's single with Ray Ellis, Every Night About This Time/My Heart Tells Me moved up the local airplay charts. The single proved particularly popular on radio stations in Boston, Connecticut and Rhode Island. “Every Night” peaked at #9 in on station WTOR in Torrington, CT and “My Heart Tells Me” peaked at #2 on station WADK in Newport, RI. Art's job at Columbia/CBS brought the couple from Cincinnati to New York, and it led to other opportunities for Art at Capitol and Warner Brothers Records.

Jerri's second album, Play For Keeps, was released in 1959. The conductor was Ray Ellis, who famously worked with Billie Holiday on the widely praised 1958 album, Lady in Satin. Songs on the album included the title track, But Not for Me, My Heart Tells Me, and For All We Know. Columbia took out a full page ad in Billboard Magazine on January 4,1960 where they listed 1959 as the best sales year in their history and listed Jerri among the popular artists on the label.

The Millers welcomed two daughters to their family, Tracey and Shelley. After her second album was released, Columbia elected not to renew her contract. Like many other female vocalists of 1950's, Jerri retired to focus on raising her family, although music was still ever-present in her life. She continued to sing at church and for her family. The family lived in New York until Art's position at Warner Brothers moved the family to Los Angeles. Although retired, Jerri still occasionally performed, joining a group called the Big Band Association around 1971.

This group was born from an Adult Education course offered in the Massapequa school district on Long Island in 1969 by teachers Frank Reilley and Michael Gennaro. The intention of the course was to reconnect people to the music of the Big Band era. All students were expected to have at least some background in music and be able to read music. It was seen as a creative outlet for people who were mostly in their 30s and 40s. The students did several rehearsals, formed a band, and eventually released two LPs, both in the 1970s on a private label, RCA Custom. These albums were privately pressed and featured Jerri on lead vocals (billed as Jerri Miller). Art's background in music was also influential in these releases.

The Millers moved their family from Los Angeles to Seattle. They later opened a record store in the mid-2000s called Mother's Record Shed that they ran for 5 years.

In 2008 a family friend, Josh Burker, interviewed Jerri and Art in their store where Jerri discussed her musical career and early life in Ohio. Art and Jerri's dog Muff was by their side.

Her daughter Shelley said that one of her mother's favorite sayings was “there is a song for every occasion,” and she would at times burst into song on the spot, entertaining her children. In her retirement, Jerri enjoyed cooking and and loved to entertain. In addition to cooking, her hobbies included travel and reading. She was thrilled when the Collectables record label released her two Columbia albums on cd in 2002, exposing her to a new generation of fans.

Jerri Adams died in 2013 at the age of 86 in Bothell, WA. She was survived by her husband Art Miller, her two daughters and her 5 grandchildren.