From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Jun 19, 2002  7:31 pm
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Jerry Keller
 
JERRY KELLER (By Wayne Jancik)

Born 20 June 1937, Fort Smith, Arkansas

Jerry Keller could serve as the prototype of a one-hit wonder. His self-
penned "Here Comes Summer" was a surprise # 1 in the UK in 1959.
In the USA the disc went to # 14 on the Billboard lists. In both countries
he would never see the hitparade again.
When he was seven, Keller and his family moved from Arkansas to Tulsa,
Oklahoma, where he became a member of the Tulsa Boy Singers, a choral
group that toured the Midwest. In 1956, Jerry moved to the city of glitz and
garbage, 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 steps of a church that opened the 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. There "Here Comes Summer" was his first waxing. For
years afterward, whenever summertime was approaching, Jerry's joyous
single would ride the turntables. Despite a massive tour of the U.K. (replacing
the deceased Eddie Cochran), none of Keller's subsequent outings ever
received much airplay. Without hits, he was forced to move from Capitol to
Coral to Reprise to RCA before chucking his musical career, though he did
continue penning tunes. His "Turn-Down Day" was a # 16 hit for the Cyrkle
in 1966 and in 1964 Andy Williams had a # 67 hit with Keller's "Almost There".
Jerry made film appearances in "You Light Up My Life" (1977) and "If I Ever
See You Again" (1978).

(Adapted from the entry for Jerry Keller in: Wayne Jancik, The Billboard book
of one-hit wonders, revised edition. New York: Billboard Books, 1998 - Dik)

"Here Comes Summer" is available on the Various Artists CD "Teenage
Crush, Vol. 3" (Ace 790).