Born #OTD 1926: Jeri Southern, the shy Nebraska girl who found fame as a jazz singer and then walked away at the height of her career

The cover of jazz vocalist Jeri Southern’s 1958, ‘Cigarettes, Coffee, & Memories’. Photo: Roulette Records.

Hailing from the rural environs of Royal, Nebraska, Jeri Southern, née Genevieve Lillian Hering, was born on 5 August 1926 to a family of modest means. Her father was a flour miller, while her grandfather emigrated from Germany with training as a swineherd. A fixture on the Chicago jazz scene of the 1950s, Southern was a gifted pianist and vocalist, garnering acclaim for her bittersweet interpretations of torch songs and ballads. Notably, she was the first to record Victor Young's and Edward Heyman’s enduring standard, ‘When I Fall in Love’, in 1952 for Capitol Records. Despite achieving critical and commercial success, Southern’s career was prematurely curtailed by debilitating anxiety, leading to her retirement from public performance following a stage collapse in 1960.

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