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JERRY  KELLER   

“HERE COMES SUMMER“

(JERRY KELLER)

Kapp 277

No. 14    August 17, 1959

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Jerry Keller was born in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on June 20, 1937.  When he was seven, he and the

family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he became a member of the Tulsa Boy Singers, a choral

group that toured the Mid­west.  In high school, he formed a secular quartet called the Lads of Note.

Singing solo, Jerry won a talent test organized by bandleader Horace Heidt (the claimed “discoverer” of ED

TOWNSEND), and he fronted Jack Dalton’s Orches­tra for a while.

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In 1956, Jerry moved to the city of glitz and other stuff, New York.  While dreaming of fame and fortune,

he worked as a clerk for an oil company; he also studied singing, cut demos when he could, and

appeared occasionally on local TV shows.  But it was a Sunday meet­ing with Pat Boone on the stops

of a church that opened that big door to secular stardom.  Pat gave Jerry a list of individuals that

might be able to help him.  One of them, Marty Mills, was to be Keller’s manager and his connection

to Kapp Records.

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Jerry’s self-penned “Here Comes Summer” was apparently the 22·year·old’s first official waxing.

For years afterward, whenever summertime was approaching, Jerry’s joyous single would ride the

turntables; ah, that’s record players.  Despite a massive tour of tho U.K.–replacing the recently

deceased Eddie Cochran–none of Keller’s subsequent outings ever received much airplay; without

hits, he was to move from Kapp, to Capitol, to Coral, to Reprise, to RCA Records before chucking

his career.

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No Jerry Keller recordings are currently in print.  Keller did continue penning tunes, though:  his

” Turn Down Day ” was a sizable  hit for the  folkie-pop  Cyrkle in 1966, and  his ” Almost There “

appeared in the 1964 flick I’d Rather Be Rich (a version by Andy Williams reached number 67 the

same year).  Keller made film appearances in You Light Up My Lift (1977) and If  Ever I See You

Again (1978).