Tennessee native Anita Kerr (born Anita Jean Grilli) was only in her early twenties when her eight-voice choir achieved a spot on WSM Radio, venerable home of the Grand Ole Opry. Her weekly broadcasts led to a call to join “Mr. Country Music,” Red Foley, in the recording studio for “Our Lady of Fatima.” Foley’s tune became a No. 16 Pop hit in 1950, and from there, Anita Kerr’s career took off to the stratosphere. The Second Disc has just learned of the singer-pianist-composer-arranger-producer’s death at the age of 94 in Geneva,…
The Weekend Stream: December 11, 2021
Welcome to The Weekend Stream, a relaxing weekly review of notable digital-only catalogue titles. There may be no CD or vinyl, but there’s plenty of great new/old music to discover! This week offers a fistful of digital deluxe editions, expansions on holiday favorites, and at least one Bond theme in the mix. Tina Turner, GoldenEye (Parlophone) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify) If you’re still riding high off the excellent latest James Bond film No Time to Die, released a few months ago, you might dig this suite of rare remixes of Tina…
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And Now…The Anita Kerr Orchestra and Singers Celebrated On New Box Set
Earlier this year, Cherry Red’s él imprint collected Anita Kerr and Rod McKuen’s classic “mood music” trilogy The Sea/The Earth/The Sky in one compact box set. Now, él has turned its attention to another set of engaging albums from the vast Anita Kerr discography. The Five Classic Warner Brothers Albums 1966-1968 brings together The Anita Kerr Orchestra’s 1966 And Now…The Anita Kerr Orchestra! and The Anita Kerr Singers’ four subsequent Warner LPs in one package. Memphis native Anita Kerr was only in her early twenties when her eight-voice choir achieved a spot on…
Do You Like The Rain? Cherry Red Revisits Kerr and McKuen’s “The Sea, The Earth, The Sky”
When singer-songwriter-poet Rod McKuen teamed with composer-arranger-conductor Anita Kerr for the 1967 album The Sea, neither had any inkling that the record’s success would lead to an entire series of albums under the San Sebastian Strings moniker through 1975. The oft-imitated, never-duplicated, platinum-selling The Sea epitomized the now-moribund genre of “mood music,” offering spoken word and music in a relaxing, spellbinding mélange. Cherry Red’s él imprint has recently reissued the box set The Sea/The Earth/The Sky as a 3-CD set, re-presenting the trilogy in complete form. Kerr’s lush, string-laden musical settings and…
We Dig Anita and Ahmad! Cherry Red’s él Label Collects Kerr and Jamal
Cherry Red’s él imprint has previously celebrated the legendary career of Anita Kerr with various album reissues, and now the label is putting the spotlight on her prolific work in the studio supporting a host of music’s most famous artists. We Dig Anita: The Oohs and Aahs of the Nashville Sound brings together 33 tracks from this multi-talented pioneer of the lush country-pop Nashville Sound – an accomplished singer, musician, arranger, producer and composer. All of the tracks on We Dig Anita, by such artists as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Patsy Cline and…
Cherry Red’s él Label Spends Christmas In Nashville with Anita Kerr and Chet Atkins
Cherry Red Records’ él imprint is celebrating this Christmas in Nashville with the recent release of The Anita Kerr Singers and Chet Atkins at Christmas. This new two-for-one CD includes both Christmas with Chet Atkins (1961) and The Kerr Singers’ On This Holy Night (1959) plus a smattering of related bonus tracks. It’s nearly impossible to sum up the career of Chet Atkins in a mere few words. The fourteen-time Grammy winner (1924-2001) was a mainstay of the RCA Victor label between 1947 and 1982 as a performer, producer and executive. Ranked…
The Anita Kerr Singers Step Out of the Background On Reissue of “The Genius in Harmony”
The release of director Morgan Neville’s documentary 20 Feet from Stardom has rightfully placed the spotlight on those dynamite vocalists who toil in the shadows on record and onstage, often without credit. Background singers are part and parcel of the story of popular music, and Neville’s film has given richly-deserved attention to Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Claudia Lennear, Judith Hill, and other greats of the field. The story of background groups like The Breakaways, The Jordanaires, The Andantes and The Sweet Inspirations could fill an entire motion picture, too. And one of…
