![Jimmy Durante Mrs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Jimmy_Durante_Mrs._Miller_Hollywood_Palace_1966.JPG)
Elva Ruby Miller (October 5, 1907 – July 5, 1997), who recorded under the name "Mrs. Miller", was an American
singer who gained some fame in the 1960s, for her series of shrill and off-tempo renditions of popular songs such as "
Moon River
"Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie ''Breakfast at Tiffany's (film), Breakfast at Tiffany's'', winning an Academy Award for Best Original ...
", "
Monday, Monday", "
A Lover's Concerto", and "
Downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
". An untrained
mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano or mezzo (; ; meaning "half soprano") is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A below middle C ...
, she sang in a heavy,
vibrato-laden style; according to
Irving Wallace
Irving Wallace (March 19, 1916 – June 29, 1990) was an American best-selling author and screenwriter. He was known for his heavily researched novels, many with a sexual theme.
Early life
Wallace was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Bessie Liss a ...
,
David Wallechinsky and
Amy Wallace in ''
The Book of Lists 2,'' Miller's voice was compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."
Nevertheless, "Downtown" reached the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...
singles chart in April 1966, peaking at No. 82. The single's
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
, "A Lover's Concerto," barely cracked the Hot 100 that same month at No. 95.
Life and career
Elva Ruby Connes was born in
Joplin, Missouri, the third of seven children born to Edward and Ada (Martin) Connes. She grew up in Missouri and
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
. She married John Richardson Miller, a professional investor thirty years her senior, on January 17, 1934. They moved to
Claremont, California
Claremont () is a suburban city on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of downtown Los Angeles. It is in the Pomona Valley, at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 census it had a popul ...
the following year, where she studied music, voice, and composition at
Pomona College and involved herself in church and community projects.
She said singing was "a hobby", but she produced several records, mainly of
classical,
gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...
, and children's songs. She self-financed and recorded at least one 45 ("Slumber Song"), and distributed it to local orphanages. It was while making a recording that arranger Fred Bock heard her. He convinced her to try more modern songs and took the recordings to different record labels.
[
Miller was discovered by radio disc jockey (and later '' Laugh-In'' announcer) Gary Owens who first featured Miller on his radio program in 1960. Owens also included her on a limited-run album of his comedy routines. In 1965, Miller was signed to ]Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
by Lex de Azevedo, a young up-and-coming producer at the label.
Miller's success, like that of Florence Foster Jenkins before her and Wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
after her, was due to the amateurishness of her singing. Capitol Records seemed eager to emphasize it —in a 1967 interview with ''Life'' magazine, Miller claimed that during recording sessions she was deliberately conducted a half beat ahead or behind time, and said the worst of several recordings of a song were chosen for the finished album. Her first LP, with the tongue-in-cheek title ''Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits'', was issued by Capitol in 1966. Made up entirely of well-known pop songs, it sold more than 250,000 copies in its first three weeks. Gary Owens wrote the album's liner notes. ''Will Success Spoil Mrs. Miller?!'' followed, and ''The Country Soul of Mrs. Miller'' came a year later.
Miller sang for US servicemen in Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, performed at the Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018.
The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...
, and guest starred on numerous television talk and variety shows. She also appeared in Roddy McDowall
Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (17 September 1928 – 4 October 1998) was a British actor, photographer and film director. He began his acting career as a child in England, and then in the United States, in ''How Green Was My Valley'' (1 ...
's film ''The Cool Ones
''The Cool Ones'' (aka ''Cool, Baby Cool'') is a 1967 film starring Roddy McDowall and directed by Gene Nelson. The 1960s novelty singer known as Mrs. Miller performs in a cameo role, and the film features performances by the bands the Leaves and ...
'', where she sang "It's Magic
"It's Magic" is a popular song written by Jule Styne, with lyrics by Sammy Cahn, published in 1947. They wrote the song for Doris Day in her Warner Brothers film debut, ''Romance on the High Seas'' (retitled ''It's Magic'' in the United Kingdom ...
". Eventually, public interest in Miller began to wane, and Capitol Records dropped her from their roster in 1968. She released one album, ''Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing'', on the small Amaret Records
Amaret Records was a record label that operated between 1968 and 1973. Among the artists that had their recordings released on the label were hard rock group Crow, Country singer Judy Lynn and singer Mrs Miller.
Background
The label was located o ...
label, before issuing several singles on her own Vibrato Records label.[ She recorded two albums of material at Radio Recorders studios in Hollywood that were issued by ]Dunhill Records
Dunhill Records was started in 1964 by Lou Adler, Jay Lasker, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts as Dunhill Productions to release the music of Johnny Rivers on Imperial Records. It became a record label the following year and was distributed b ...
, which went unnoticed.
Her last known recording was a self-released EP in 1971.
Miller officially retired in 1973, when interest in her career had almost completely vanished. She spent her remaining years doing work for various charities. She lived in a condo in Northridge, California, until the earthquake in 1994; she then moved into a retirement home.[Profile](_blank)
danacountryman.com; accessed 26 September 2015.
She may have been the inspiration for a similar act called Mr Miller and the Blue Notes, who released a 1966 version of the Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat, rock and pop group formed in 1964 in Manchester, originally called Herman and His Hermits and featuring lead singer Peter Noone. Produced by Mickie Most, the Hermits charted with number ones in the UK a ...
hit " Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter".[Darryl W. Bullock, ''The World's Worst Records: Volume One: An Arcade of Audio Atrocity']
Page 76
/ref>
Death
Elva Miller died in Garden Terrace Retirement Center, in Vista, California, in 1997, aged 89. She was interred in Pomona Mausoleum, at Pomona Valley Memorial Park, in Pomona, California
Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyte ...
. Two years later, a compilation CD of her work was released on Capitol's Ultra-Lounge label: ''Wild, Cool & Swingin,' The Artist Collection Vol. 3: Mrs. Miller.''
Discography
Albums
"—" did not chart
Charting singles
See also
* Leona Anderson
Leona Anderson (born Leona Aronson; April 3, 1885 – December 25, 1973) was an American silent film actress who is possibly best remembered for her 1957 shrill music album ''Music to Suffer By''.
Biography
Leona Anderson was born as Leona Aronso ...
* Florence Foster Jenkins
* Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller
Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (April 14, 1876–1952), born Tryphosa Duncan Bates, was an American socialite, club woman and concert singer. She is often mentioned in the same context as Florence Foster Jenkins: both are apt to be criticised as ...
* William Hung
William Hing Cheung Hung (; born January 13, 1983) is a Hong Kong motivational speaker and former singer who gained fame in 2004 as a result of his unsuccessful audition singing Ricky Martin's hit song "She Bangs" on the third season of the ...
* William Topaz McGonagall
* William Shatner's musical career
William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the '' Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship ''Enterpri ...
* Jonathan and Darlene Edwards
Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a musical comedy double act developed by American conductor and arranger Paul Weston ( March 12, 1912 – September 20, 1996), and his wife, singer Jo Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008). The routine ...
References
External links
Mrs. Miller's World website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Elva Ruby
1907 births
1997 deaths
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
American women pop singers
American novelty song performers
People from Joplin, Missouri
Outsider musicians
Pomona College alumni