Monday, October 3, 2011

Mrs. Miller





Elva Ruby Connes Miller (October 5, 1907 – July 5, 1997), who recorded under the name Mrs. Miller, was an American singer who gained some fame in the 1960s for her series of shrill and off-key renditions of then-popular songs such as "Moon River", "Monday, Monday", "A Lover's Concerto" and "Downtown". Singing in an untrained, vibrato-laden style, her voice was compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid." In her performance of "Downtown" for example, she sounds amateurish, as if performing karaoke. This is due in part to the orchestra providing backup on the sessions being composed of many of the top session players in Hollywood of the mid 1960s. Furthermore, she apparently forgets the lyrics on a number of occasions and possibly as a self-conscious gesture, briefly breaks into the giggles.
Nevertheless, "Downtown" reached the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April 1966, peaking at #82. The single's B-side, "A Lover's Concerto," barely cracked the Hot 100 that same month at #95.

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