NOTE : This webpage remains under construction : further material is to be added .
P l e a s e s c r o l l t h i s p a g e .
Jeri Southern at home in Royal Her daughter is on the ladder . Note the fine dog .
Jeri's father , Mr.Hering , on the porch of his home in Royal .
Miss.Katherine King , Jeri Southern's daughter , at the piano in Royal. Her mother - just visible at the right of picture - was giving a performance to her old friends and neighbours and Katherine performed also . It is much regretted that this website's complete full size copy of the photograph is lost . However , there is a thumbnail size image on-line on another page .
Jeri Southern at the piano : no date information.
Much of the following information is from the Wikipedia internet site .
The Capitol Records company was founded by the songwriter Johnny Mercer in 1942, with the financial help of movie producer Buddy DeSylva and Los Angeles businessman Glenn Wallichs .
Wallich (b.1910 - d. 1971 ) was the owner of the " Music City Store " , then the biggest record store in Los Angeles , California. His store had opened during 1940 in select premises on the corner of Hollywood's Sunset and Vine. It was to become and would remain so for almost four decades , the premier music store in Southern California . The record stores's closure being in 1978.
The new Capitol Records Company began business using storefront office premises within the Music City building becoming America's first West Coast label with intentions of competing with the well established RCA-Victor, Columbia and Decca, companies which were all based in New York. While to take on those rivals and to better carry out its own operations it established a second studio in New York City itself . Additionally , as was necessary , Capitol sent mobile recording equipment to New Orleans, Louisiana and other cities.
The company's earliest recording artists included Paul Whiteman, Martha Tilton, and Ella Mae Morse . Its first million selling single was achieved in 1942 when Morse's "Cow Cow Boogie" became very popular . By 1946, Capitol had sold 42 million records and was established as one of the Big Six record labels. That was the year when the writer and producer Alan W. Livingston created " Bozo the Clown " for their new children's record library.
The label's 1940s artists included Les Baxter, Bing Crosby, Les Paul, Peggy Lee, Les Brown, and Nat King Cole.
In 1949 a Canadian branch was established and Capitol purchased the KHJ Studios on Melrose Avenue next to the Paramount Studios Lot in Hollywood . By the mid-1950s, Capitol had become a huge company . Its 1950s roster of popular arists included Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, The Andrews Sisters, Jackie Gleason, Ray Anthony, Andy Griffith, Shirley Bassey, Martin Denny, The Kingston Trio, The Rat Pack, Ferrante & Teicher, The Four Freshmen, Al Martino, and Nancy Wilson.
Buy-Out : In 1955, the English record company EMI acquired 96% of Capitol Records stock, for $8.5 million. Soon afterward, EMI built a new studio at Hollywood and Vine to match its state-of-the-art Abbey Road Studios in London . EMI's classical Angel Records label was merged into Capitol in 1957.
This as yet unfinished page is on-line for general interest : Jeri Southern's association with Capitol is to be added a.s.a.p ..........
Included on the above family photograph are : - Left to Right : (Jeri's) Aunt Arlene , Mr.John Kitzmiller (Jeri's 3rd husband) , Mrs. Genevieve Kitzmiller (Jeri Southern) , Mr. Roy Hering ( Jeri's father - rear) , Miss. Katherine King , Mr. Olie Olsen ( Jeri's Uncle ) , Master Gary Olsen ( Jeri's nephew ).
Brief temporary note : John Kitzmiller played bass on the " Jeri Southern At The Crescendo " album of 1959 .
Jeri Southern pictured in a Hollywood Street. (Date not known.)
Press cutting - Melody Maker - January 1960 A report anticipting a Jeri Southern tour of the U.K. In the eventuality , the tour was abandoned due to Jeri's illness.
