Jeri Southern; Sang in Clubs, on Recordings
Jeri Southern, the classically trained pianist who became a jazz-oriented vocalist in the 1950s, died Sunday.
Miss Southern, whose 1950s hit “You Better Go Now” proved the most successful of her several recordings, died in a Los Angeles hospital of respiratory complications. She would have been 65 today.
Born in Omaha, she began 15 years of classical piano study at age 5 but drifted into popular music, becoming a nightclub performer in Chicago around 1950.
Her casual, chancy style made her a favorite at lounges, including several in Hollywood, where she moved about 1960.
Leonard Feather, The Times’ jazz critic, said she was basically a shy person who did not enjoy performing in public. She quit entertaining in the early 1960s to teach voice and had lived in the Hollywood Hills.
Her other single recordings include “Dancing on the Ceiling,” “I Saw You Again,” and “When I Fall in Love,” in addition to several albums.
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