BIRMINGHAM RECORD COLLECTORS
DEDICATED TO THE COLLECTING OF MUSIC, ITS PRESERVATION AND LASTING FRIENDSHIP
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
SUNDAY, JANUARY 8TH 2:00 PM
HOMEWOOD PUBLIC LIBRARY 1721 OXMOOR RD BIRMINGHAM, AL 35209
NEXT MEETING, FEBRUARY 12TH 2:00 PM
THIS MONTH’S MEETING
After a fun time of playing ‘Dirty Santa’ at last month’s meeting we get back to what we do best, playing music. At our January meeting BRC member Jack Wilson will be our host with the most as he plays some 45’s for us, he has been setting aside just for this time. Jack always has some great and interesting sounds to share so be sure to be there.
WHO’S THAT LADY
Backed by the Anita Kerr singers, produced by Anita Kerr, orchestra conducted by Anita Kerr, composed by Anita Kerr, arranged by Anita Kerr, pianist Anita Kerr. I am sure if you have browsed through vinyl over the years, you have seen the name Anita Kerr in some association with the recordings on a song(s). She has done all the above I mentioned plus more. At one time she owned a recording studio (more about that later). But who was that lady whose name began showing up on recording credits in the early 1950’s and continued through the 1990’s?
Anita Jean Grilli was born in Memphis, TN on October 13, 1927. She would marry Al Kerr in 1947 and a year later they moved to Nashville so he could take a DJ job at WKDA. While in Nashville Anita formed a quintet and the group caught the ear of a WSM radio program director who hired her to lead and arrange an octet choir for WSM’s ‘Sunday Down South’ weekly broadcasts. Their first recording session was in 1950 with Red Foley and the song, ‘Our Lady Of Fatima’ would hit #16 on the Billboard Pop Charts.
A year later Owen Bradley singed the group to Decca Records and they began singing backup for singers such as Eddy Arnold, Burl Ives and Ernest Tubb. The group was recording two sessions a week for Decca and by 1955 would be averaging eight a week. Along with Anita the original group was included Carl Garvin, Jim Hall, Doug Kirkman, Mary Ellen Puckett, Evelyn Wilson, Mildred Kirkman and Don Fortrell.
In 1956 the group traveled to New York to be on the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts show where they won the competition. After winning Godfrey suggested to Anita that the group be cut to a quartet which she did. This group would travel two weeks out of every six to appear with Godfrey on his daily television and radio broadcasts.
The group’s schedule must have been hectic with the New York gig and still recording in Nashville. They did backup vocals on Patsy Cline’s first studio LP. Later they would perform five times a week with Jim Reeves on his WSM radio show. At this time the quartet consisted of Gil Wright, Louis Nunley, Dorothy ‘Dottie’ Dillard and Anita.
The group did some SESAC radio transcriptions sessions doing backing vocals for Faron Young, Chet Atkins and Webb Pierce. SESAC is the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers formed in 1930 which is a performance rights organization. Anita and her group would cut 60 tracks for SESAC. They also recorded as The Little Dippers releasing the song ‘Forever’ in 1959 which was on the billboard charts for 14 weeks peaking at #9.
The Anita Kerr Singers signed with RCA in 1961 releasing their first studio LP entitled ‘From Nashville…The Hit Sound’. And if you come across an RCA 45 by Anita And Th’ So-And-So’s entitled ‘Joey Baby’, that is Anita and her quartet. The range of the group was not limited as they would do country, pop and soul. The group won a Grammy in 1965 for their LP ‘We Dig Mancini’.
Now they were doing their LP’s but never quit the backup vocal gigs. They can be heard on recordings by Hank Snow, Brenda Lee, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Vinton, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Floyd Cramer, Al Hirt, Ann-Margaret and many more. I remember Sammy Salvo, a BRC Hall Of Fame Member even had the Anita Kerr Singers back him up on some of his RCA recordings. What an honor and thrill that must have been.
Some of Anita’s other credits included composing and recording some radio station jingles used by stations from California to New York. The group toured Europe with Chet Atkins, Bobby Bare and Jim Reeves. Later Anita wanted to do more than back up-country singers so after a divorce she relocated to Los Angeles in 1965 with her 2nd husband, Alex Grob and did more pop and jazz recordings as well as orchestral writings signing with Warner Brothers. On the west coast the quartet was composed of Anita, Bill Lee, Bob Tebow, and at times B.J Baker, Gene Merlino, Bill Cole and Jackie Ward. Jackie Ward also recorded as Robin Ward which you will remember had the 1963 hit, ‘Wonderful Summer’. Robin Ward also had quite a career in the music business although most only know her as a one-hit wonder.
Anita was hired as choral director for the first season of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. In 1970 she recorded the LP, Touchlove which showcased her skill as a pianist. In 1970 she and her husband moved to Switzerland where she continued recording with a quartet made up of UK talent. In 1975 she and her husband founded Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland located in the Montreux Casino. They sold the studio to the rock group Queen in 1979 who along with their producer kept the studio until 2013 then making it a charity museum/exhibition known as ‘Queen: The Studio Experience’. In 1979 Anita received an award from ASCAP saluting ‘a lady of class and a first-class musician for her significant contributions to the birth and development of the Nashville sound’.
Now when you see Anita Kerr’s name credited in some fashion you will know a little more about the lady. Anita Kerr died on October 10, 2022 in Carouge, Geneva, Switzerland.
The Little Dippers
Anita & Th’ So-And-So’s
Sammy Salvo
(with the Anita Kerr Singers)
BRC RADIO
Check out our latest radio shows or what some people call podcasts I believe at birminghamrecord.com. Click on ‘RADIO’ and listen to some long-lost music and even some new sounds. There is a wide variety of music now that we have 4 hosts doing shows which provide a wide-range of musical genres.
Here are some of the guys latest shows to choose from:
http://www.birminghamrecord.com/brc/brc-radio-1-1-23/
http://www.birminghamrecord.com/brc/brc-radio-10-16-22/
http://www.birminghamrecord.com/brc/brc-radio-8-28-22/
http://www.birminghamrecord.com/brc/brc-radio-12-11-22/
See ya,
Charlie