Editing Jill Corey (section)

==Biography==
[[Italian-American]],<ref name="sumrob">{{cite book |last1=Summers |first1=Anthony |last2=Swan |first2=Robbyn |date=2010 |title=Sinatra: The Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dAKzGzfeOgC |location=U.S. |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |pages=202-203, 205, 393, 574 |isbn=9780307427762}}</ref> Corey was born in [[Avonmore, Pennsylvania]], a coal mining community about forty miles east of [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]].<ref name="coreyfeature" /> Her father, Bernard Speranza, was a coal miner,<ref>{{cite news|title=Jill Corey To Marry Brazil Envoy|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/24702249/?terms=%22Norma%2BJean%2BSperanza%22|work=The Indiana Gazette|date=April 11, 1969|location=Pennsylvania, Indiana|page=1|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = June 13, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> and she was the youngest of five children. Her mother died when she was four years old.<ref name="coreyfeature">{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=From Speranza to Corey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I0gEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA137 |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Time Inc.]] |date=November 9, 1953 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=137–143}}</ref>

She was a 1953 graduate of Bell-Avon High School.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hastings|first1=Bill|title=The Lottery Winner's Right|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/11652316/indiana_gazette/|work=The Indiana Gazette|date=July 16, 1981|location=Pennsylvania, Indiana|page=13|via = [[Newspapers.com]]|accessdate = June 12, 2017}} {{Open access}}</ref> Corey began singing as an imitator of [[Carmen Miranda]] at family gatherings, on amateur shows in grade school, and  [[contralto]] in the local church choir.<ref name="sumrob" /> At the age of 13, she began to develop her own style. She won first prize at a talent contest sponsored by the [[Lions Club]], which entitled  her to sing a song on WAVL in [[Apollo, 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,<ref name="coreyfeature" /> with a local orchestra led by Johnny Murphy.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Help! Help! Help! |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZiEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA37 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] |date=July 22, 1957 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=37}}</ref> By the age of 17 she was a local celebrity talent.<ref name="coreyfeature" />

[[Image:Jill-Corey 2013-11-16.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A photo of Jill Corey in 2013|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 of [[Mitch Miller]],<ref name="coreyfeature" /><ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Columbia Signs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4EQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] |date=October 10, 1953 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=20}}</ref> who headed the [[A&R|artists & repertory]] section at [[Columbia 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.<ref name="coreyfeature" /> 
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 had ''[[Life Magazine]]'' send over reporters and photographers, and had her audition with [[Arthur Godfrey]] and [[Dave Garroway]].<ref name="sumrob" /> The ''Life'' photographers reenacted her signing a contract with Columbia, and all this happened in a single day, with her headed back to Avonmore that night.<ref name="coreyfeature" />

Both Garroway and Godfrey called her, and it was her choice to pick one; she picked Garroway, who took the name '''Jill Corey''' out of a [[telephone]] book.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Columbia Signs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ynYcAQAAMAAJ |magazine=Woman's Home Companion |volume=82 |location=New York City |publisher=Crowell & Kirkpatrick Company |date=1955 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |page=36}}</ref><ref name="jillcoreycollection" /><ref name="broadwayworld" /> Within six weeks the ''Life'' article, with a cover picture and seven pages, came out. Jill Corey became the youngest star ever at the [[Copacabana (nightclub)|Copacabana]] nightclub,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Baggelaar |first1=Kristin |date=2006 |title=The Copacabana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPZlsH51vZUC&pg=PA110 |location=[[Charleston, South Carolina]] |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |pages=110 |isbn=9780307483201}}</ref> where she was [[Flirting|hit on]] by [[Frank Sinatra]],<ref name="sumrob" /> and had numerous hit records.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Best Sellers in Stores For Survey Week Ending August 31, 1957 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QSEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] |date=September 8, 1957 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=43, 45, 46, 48, 50}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Reviews of New Pop Records |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nx4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] |date=July 3, 1954 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=20}}</ref> Even so, in May 1956, [[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] described Corey as a performer who "hasn't made it big" despite the amount of publicity she received.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grevatt |first=Ben |title=Canned Milk Can't Cow Canned Music on Quota of Laughs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fB8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA21 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |location=New York City |publisher=[[Eldridge Industries]] |date=May 5, 1956 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=21}}</ref>

Corey was a regular on the television variety programs ''Robert Q's Matinee'' (1950–1956)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=900|edition=2nd}}</ref> ''[[The Dave Garroway Show (television program)|The Dave Garroway Show]]'' (1953–1954),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=239|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref name="coreyfeature" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |date=2014 |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&pg=PA517 |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]] |pages=517 |isbn=9780307483201}}</ref> and the 1958–1959 version of ''[[Your Hit Parade]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=1209|edition=2nd}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |date=2010 |title=From Radio to Television: Programs That Made the Transition, 1929-2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI-WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA216 |location= |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=216 |isbn=9781476646930}}</ref> She was co-host of ''Music on Ice'', a variety program on NBC (1960).<ref>{{cite book|last1=Terrace|first1=Vincent|title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010|date=2011|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|location=Jefferson, N.C.|isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7|page=725|edition=2nd}}</ref>

She also worked on television with [[Ed Sullivan]]. In 1956 she became a regular on [[Johnny Carson]]'s [[CBS]]-network comedy-variety show from California.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Tim |last2=Marsh |first2=Earle F. |date=2014 |title=The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w8KztFy6QYwC&pg=PA713 |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]] |pages=713 |isbn=9780307483201}}</ref> In addition, she had her own syndicated [[radio]] and television shows, like ''The Jill Corey Show'' hosted by the [[National Guard Bureau]],<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Havell |first=George F. |title=Radio-TV Tells the Army Story |volume=13 |issue=8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTvLoLGi2uIC&pg=PA55 |magazine=Army Information Digest |location=Alexandria, Virginia |publisher=[[U.S. Army]] |date=August 1958 |access-date=December 31, 2022 |pages=55}}</ref> the ''Jill Corey Sings'' radio show,<ref>{{cite report |author=National Guard Bureau |author-link=National Guard Bureau |date=1960 |title=Annual Report of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K6nK2BS8jzYC&pg=RA2-PA12 |publisher=[[Government Printing Office]] |page=12 |access-date=December 31, 2022 }}</ref> and episodes of "Stop the Music" radio show.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Terrace |first1=Vincent |date=2010 |title=From Radio to Television: Programs That Made the Transition, 1929-2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nI-WEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 |location=U.S. |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |page=196 |isbn=9781476646930}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaplan |first1=James |date=2016 |title=Sinatra: The Chairman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANsiDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |location=U.S. |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |page=54 |isbn=9781476646930}}</ref> She also appeared at a [[Delta Gamma]] gathering in 1957, where she sang and greeted guests.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Starkey |first=Bette |date=Winter 1957 |title=Highlights |volume=74 |issue=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BEz4dmp-zy0C&pg=PA20 |magazine=The Anchora of Delta Gamma  |location=Columbus, Ohio |access-date=December 31, 2022 |publisher=[[Delta Gamma]] fraternity |pages=17–20 }}</ref> She is known for her cover of a French song, "[[Let It Be Me (The Everly Brothers song)|Let It Be Me]]", in 1957 for Columbia Records<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leszczak |first1=Bob |date=2014 |title=Who Did It First?: Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dAKzGzfeOgC |location=New York |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |pages=122–123 |isbn=9781442230682}}</ref> and her 1956 song, ''Egghead'', which focuses on "failed masculinity" of an [[egghead]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lecklider |first1=Aaron |date=2013 |title=Inventing the Egghead: The Battle over Brainpower in American Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yoxvqh2DvtoC&pg=PA204 |location=[[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]] |publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]] |page=204 |isbn=9780812207811}}</ref> In 1959 she starred in a feature-length musical film for [[Columbia Pictures]], entitled ''Senior Prom'', which was co-produced by [[Moe Howard]] of [[The Three Stooges]].<ref name="jillcoreycollection" />

A two-CD compilation of her complete singles was released in June 2015 by Jasmin Records.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.jasmine-records.co.uk/acatalog/jascd-817.html|title=COREY, Jill - Love Me To Pieces - The Complete Singles|website=Jasmine Records|language=en|access-date=December 31, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160323170332/http://www.jasmine-records.co.uk/acatalog/jascd-817.html|archive-date=March 23, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>