Jody Miller
Myrna Joy "Jody" Miller (November 29, 1941 – October 6, 2022)[1] was an American singer, who had commercial success in the genres of country, folk and pop. She was the second female artist to win a country music accolade from the Grammy Awards, which came off the success of her 1965 song "Queen of the House". By blending multiple genres together, Miller's music was considered influential for other music artists.
For the American criminologist, see Jody Miller (criminologist).
Jody Miller
October 6, 2022 (aged 80)
- Singer
1963–2022
1
- Vocals
- guitar
Miller was born in Arizona, but raised in Blanchard, Oklahoma. With a passion for folk music, she moved to Los Angeles, California following high school to pursue a music career. Her singing attracted the attention of Capitol Records, which signed her to a recording contract in 1963. The label released her debut studio album titled Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe in 1963. It was Miller's answer song to Roger Miller's "King of the Road" titled "Queen of the House" that became her first commercial success. It became a top 20 pop song and a top five country song. It was followed by the top 25 pop single "Home of the Brave" that discussed social conformity. Miller remained at Capitol recording various material until 1969.
Miller was then signed to the country music label, Epic Records. Under the direction of Billy Sherrill, she remade pop hits into singles for the country market. She had top ten country singles with covers of "He's So Fine" (1971), "Baby I'm Yours" (1971) and original songs like "There's a Party Goin' On" (1972). The Epic label released a series of singles and albums that made the North American country music charts through the end of the 1970s. She was nominated for another Grammy for Epic material and appeared on several popular country television programs during the decade.
Miller left her recording career in the early 1980s. She spent time with her domestic duties and to assist her husband's new business raising quarter horses in Oklahoma. In 1988, she returned with a pair of new studio albums including a project of patriotic music called My Country. It attracted the attention of George H. W. Bush, who had Miller perform at his campaign rallies and other presidential events. In the 1990s, Miller found solace in the religion of Christianity and released several albums of gospel material. This included Real Good Feelin (1992) and Higher (1999). Miller continued her career through the 2020s, before her death from Parkinson's disease in 2022.
Early life[edit]
Myrna Joy Miller was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1941 while her family was on their way to start a new life in Oakland, California.[2] She was the youngest of four sisters[3] born to Johnny Bell Miller and Fay Miller. Miller's father was a mechanic, who made fiddles and played them too. Her mother was a homemaker who enjoyed singing around the house. Together, Miller would sing harmony with her four sisters.[2][1] Her parents discovered their daughter's unique singing ability and entered her in talent contests during her early childhood. Miller's father also illegally brought her into bars where his daughter would stand on tables singing. She became locally known as "the little girl with the big voice".[1]
Mr. and Mrs. Miller divorced when their daughter was eight. She took a Greyhound bus and ended up in Blanchard, Oklahoma where she was raised by her paternal grandmother.[2] At her grandmother's home, she heard Mario Lanza singing "La donna è mobile". "That is when I first realized that I would be a singer. I was bitten," Miller wrote on her official website. She also joined choir in high school and sang in a trio that performed songs by The McGuire Sisters.[4] Miller graduated from Blanchard High School in 1959.[1][2] She then got a job as a secretary in Oklahoma City and learned to sing folk music.[1]
Miller was performing in coffeehouses throughout her local area. She was singing in one particular coffeehouse in Norman, Oklahoma when she was heard by Lou Gottlieb. Impressed by her singing, Gottlieb encouraged Miller to move to California. However, she turned down his offer and married instead. Shortly after her wedding, Miller and husband moved to Los Angeles, California in hopes of launching her music career. The couple got in touch with Gottlieb her brought her in contact with his agent. However, Miller did not like Gottlieb's agent. She instead contacted actor Dale Robertson, who was connected to her husband's family.[5] Robertson helped Miller get an audition with Capitol Records and she signed with the label in 1963.[5][1] The label then changed her name from "Myrna Miller" to "Jody Miller".[1]
Career[edit]
1963–1969: "Queen of the House" and success in multiple genres[edit]
At Capitol, Miller was signed as a folk recording artist.[6] In 1963, the label released her debut LP titled Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe. Its background session performers included Cher and Glen Campbell, both of whom were not yet artists.[1] Miller then made appearances on Tom Paxton's folk television show.[7] The album failed to become a commercial success due to the decline of folk music's popularity.[5] Miller's career was then taken into other genres. In 1964, her debut single "He Walks Like a Man" made America's Billboard pop chart.[1] In Australia, it climbed into the top ten.[8] In 1965, Miller participated in Italy's Sanremo Festival as a team companion of Pino Donaggio. Since the festival was created as a composers' competition, Miller and Donaggio presented differently arranged versions of the entry "Io che non vivo (senza te)". The song came placed at number seven and was moderately successful in Italy. It was then recorded in English by Dusty Springfield and released as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me".[9]
Artistry[edit]
Miller's artistry was defined by the musical genres of folk,[29] country,[7] gospel,[23] and pop.[39] Critics have commented that Miller's musical versatility lacked consistency for her as an artist. In reviewing her 1970 Look at Mine album, Greg Adams of AllMusic commented, "The wide variety of songs she recorded and her chameleonic vocals prevented Miller from establishing a signature sound."[40] In reviewing one of her compilations, Richie Unterberger wrote, "Miller is most often categorized as a country singer, but in the 1960s she was actually pretty eclectic, roving among and combining country, folk, pop, and girl group-like pop\rock. That means there isn't much stylistic consistency here, though there are some good songs."[39] On her own artistic diversity, Miller commented, "I like to sing all kinds of songs, so I didn’t fit into a mold."[1]
Writers have also remarked on Miller's voice. Greg Adams commented that Miller's voice resembled that of Bobbie Gentry's but with more "technical ability".[40] In a separate AllMusic review, Adams commented that Miller's also drew similarities to that of sixties pop singer Vicki Carr and found that it lacks any "rural or working-class character" in comparison to country performers.[41] Ed Shanahan of The New York Times described Miller's as "a versatile singer with a rich, resonant voice".[1]
Legacy[edit]
Miller's fusion of country, folk and pop were said to influence other female artists that followed. Writers Mary A. Bufwack and Robert K. Oermann described Miller as having a "variety pack approach" to her musical style, influencing crossover future country crossover artists like Linda Ronstadt, Jennifer Warnes and Nicolette Larson. They further commented on Miller's legacy, "The country-pop approach Jody pioneered was a profitable one for many successors."[29] Greg Adams commented that Miller, along with Jan Howard and Jeannie Seely "pioneered pop-oriented country music in the '60s, and their sound has since come to dominate the field."[41]
Miller has since been recognized for her contributions to the music industry. In 1999, the Country Gospel Music Association inducted Miller into its Hall of Fame, along with Loretta Lynn, Barbara Mandrell, Andy Griffith, David L. Cook and Lulu Roman.[42] In 2018, Miller was among several recording artists that were inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.[43] In 2021, Miller's hometown of Blanchard named a new performing arts center after Miller. In November 2021, she participated in a ceremony dedicated to its opening. It will be named the "Jody Miller Performing Arts Center"[44] Miller's career was also shown in a Grammy exhibit titled Stronger Together: The Power of Women in Country Music that was shown at the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[45]
Personal life[edit]
In January 1962 Miller married her high school sweetheart, Monty Brooks.[46] The couple lived in Los Angeles, California for the first eight years of the marriage.[10] In 1965 Miller gave birth to her only child, Robin.[37] In 1970, the family moved to Blanchard, Oklahoma so their daughter could attend school in their home state. For many years, Brooks and Miller operated a quarter horse breeding and training business on their Blanchard ranch.[2]
Miller was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in the final seven years of her life.[47] Miller died on October 6, 2022, in Blanchard from complications caused by the disease.[2] She was 80 years old.[1]