John Peel Wiki

Changes to the look of John Peel Wiki will take place in the near future due to a new skin being rolled out over Oct/Nov across Wikia. Please see the Wikia Staff Blog for further details. On this site, the changes will affect the navigation from the left menu, as well as introduce a fixed page width with narrower content space. Please be patient while adjustments are made for the switch to the new system.

UPDATE: As the change is now in force for some users, I have switched the navigation to the simplified one for the new system. Please check Navigation in the Help section if you can't find things. I also initially made small adjustments to the front page layout, but have now reverted to the old look until all users are on the new system.

COUNTDOWN: Just a reminder for people still using Monaco that the final switch to the new skin is due on Nov. 3. After that, it will no longer be offered as an option. Sorry. Nothing to do with me.

Steve W

READ MORE

John Peel Wiki
Mrs miller

Elva Ruby 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 popular songs such as "Moon River", "Monday, Monday", "A Lover's Concerto", and "Downtown". Singing in an untrained, Mermanesque, vibrato-laden style, according to Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace in The Book of Lists 2, Miller's voice was compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."[1]

Nevertheless, "Downtown" reached the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April 1966, peaking at No. 82. The single's B-side, "A Lover's Concerto," barely cracked the Hot 100 that same month at No. 95.

(Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel[]

A_Groovy_Kind_Of_Love_by_Mrs._Miller

A Groovy Kind Of Love by Mrs. Miller

Mrs Miller was renowned for her awful singing, yet had a number of US chart hits in the mid-1960s, when Peel was working in American radio. Back in the UK, the DJ would continue to feature her “unmistakable vocal styiings” on an occasional basis down the decades, offering listeners an abrupt change in pace from his regular fare.

Author David Cavanagh holds up Peel's programming of the “tone-deaf novelty singer” on 26 May 1991 as an example of the DJ close to his eclectic best, displaying “a form of erudite, neo-anarchic, abstract expressionist fearlessness that no other person on British music radio before or since could have begun to imagine how to emulate”, with a run of playlist choices that also included the Wedding Present, Humblebums, a dancehall cover of Carly Simon, accordionist Jimmy Shand and 11 noisecore tracks that lasted a total of 15 seconds.[2]

Festive Fifty Entries[]

  • None

Sessions[]

  • None

Shows Played[]

See Also[]

External Links[]

References[]

  1. Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and Amy Wallace, The Book of Lists 2 (1983); ISBN 0-688-03574-4.
  2. Good Night And Good Riddance (Faber & Faber, 2015), pg 11.