Jill Corey (bornNorma Jean Speranza; September 30, 1935 – April 3, 2021)[1] was an Americanpopular standards singer. She was discovered and signed on one day when she was 17. She went on to have her own radio shows and to star in a feature film.
Italian-American,[2] Corey was born inAvonmore, Pennsylvania, a coal mining community about forty miles east ofPittsburgh.[3] Her father, Bernard Speranza, was a coal miner,[4] and she was the youngest of five children. Her mother died when she was four years old.[3]
She was a 1953 graduate of Bell-Avon High School.[5] Corey began singing as an imitator ofCarmen Miranda at family gatherings, on amateur shows in grade school, andcontralto in the local church choir.[2] At the age of 13, she began to develop her own style. She won first prize at a talent contest sponsored by theLions Club, which entitled her to sing a song on WAVL inApollo, Pennsylvania. This got her an offer to have her own program. By the age of 14 she was working seven nights a week, earning $5-$6 a night,[3] with a local orchestra led by Johnny Murphy.[6] By the age of 17 she was a local celebrity talent.[3]
Corey in 2013
At the home of the only owner of a tape recorder in town, with trains going by in the background and no accompaniment, she made a tape recording to demonstrate her singing skills to the outside show business world. The tape came to the attention ofMitch Miller,[3][7] who headed theartists & repertory section atColumbia Records. He normally received over 100 record demos a week, and this one, with a 17-year-old girl and its train background, would not have been likely to gain his attention.[3] He telephoned her in Avonmore, and the next morning she flew to New York to be heard by Miller in a more normal studio setting. Miller hadLife Magazine send over reporters and photographers, and had her audition withArthur Godfrey andDave Garroway.[2] TheLife photographers reenacted her signing a contract with Columbia, and all this happened in a single day, with her headed back to Avonmore that night.[3]
Both Garroway and Godfrey called her, and it was her choice to pick one; she picked Garroway, who took the nameJill Corey out of atelephone book.[8][9][10] Within six weeks theLife article, with a cover picture and seven pages, came out. Jill Corey became the youngest star ever at theCopacabana nightclub,[11] where she washit on byFrank Sinatra,[2] and had numerous hit records.[12][13] Even so, in May 1956,Billboard described Corey as a performer who "hasn't made it big" despite the amount of publicity she received.[14]
Corey was a regular on the television variety programsRobert Q's Matinee (1950–1956)[15]The Dave Garroway Show (1953–1954),[16][3][17] and the 1958–1959 version ofYour Hit Parade.[18][19] She was co-host ofMusic on Ice, a variety program on NBC (1960).[20]
She also worked on television withEd Sullivan. In 1956 she became a regular onJohnny Carson'sCBS-network comedy-variety show from California.[21] In addition, she had her own syndicatedradio and television shows, likeThe Jill Corey Show hosted by theNational Guard Bureau,[22] theJill Corey Sings radio show,[23] and episodes of "Stop the Music" radio show.[24][25] She also appeared at aDelta Gamma gathering in 1957, where she sang and greeted guests.[26] She is known for her cover of a French song, "Let It Be Me", in 1957 for Columbia Records[27] and her 1956 song,Egghead, which focuses on "failed masculinity" of anegghead.[28] In 1959 she starred in a feature-length musical film forColumbia Pictures, entitledSenior Prom, which was co-produced byMoe Howard ofThe Three Stooges.[9]
A two-CD compilation of her complete singles was released in June 2015 by Jasmin Records.[29]
AnAssociated Press article published in February 1973 pointed out the difficulties that Corey faced in attempting a comeback. "Today I don't know how to audition, how to get people interested in booking me," she said.[33] Determined to succeed, she said, "Somehow, I'm going to find a way to tell people I'm back, and that I want to sing."[33]
^Whether she suspended her career might be questioned in light of the United Press International story about the wedding, which said, "The newlyweds will honeymoon in Hot Springs, Ark., and Bermuda where Miss Corey has singing engagements."
^Terrace, Vincent (2011).Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 900.ISBN978-0-7864-6477-7.
^Terrace, Vincent (2011).Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 239.ISBN978-0-7864-6477-7.
^Terrace, Vincent (2011).Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 1209.ISBN978-0-7864-6477-7.
^Terrace, Vincent (2011).Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 725.ISBN978-0-7864-6477-7.
^Havell, George F. (August 1958)."Radio-TV Tells the Army Story".Army Information Digest. Vol. 13, no. 8. Alexandria, Virginia:U.S. Army. p. 55. RetrievedDecember 31, 2022.
^Morris, Jack V. (2013)."Don Hoak". In Marmer, Mel; Nowlin, Bill (eds.).The Year of the Blue Snow: The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, Inc. p. 128.ISBN9781933599526.
^Morris, Jack V. (2013)."Don Hoak". In Marmer, Mel; Nowlin, Bill (eds.).The Year of the Blue Snow: The 1964 Philadelphia Phillies. Phoenix, Arizona: SABR, Inc. pp. 129–130.ISBN9781933599526.
