Elva Miller

Elva Miller was the Florence Foster Jenkins of the 1960s. From her bio on Wikipedia:

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... Miller's voice was compared to the sound of "roaches scurrying across a trash can lid."

But she laughed all the way to the bank. Her rendition of "Downtown" sold 250,000 copies in three weeks, and reached No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in April 1966.



If you're up for more sonic abuse, you can find plenty of her recordings on youtube.
     Posted By: Alex - Thu Feb 01, 2018
     Category: Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art | Music | 1960s





Comments
Meet Sam Chaplin. I'm not sure if he was before her, but I like his choice of tunes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq8Oo-M7q4A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFtN-aAP0M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7gkCkrLnt0


and the best... his version of the Batman Theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnTa7f8MFOg
Posted by S. Norman on 02/01/18 at 07:55 AM
It seems like *everyone* covered “Downtown” in the mid 60s. But everyone was so stoned that they didn’t notice a slightly off-key rendition.
Posted by Brian on 02/01/18 at 11:15 AM
What Elva lacks in natural ability she seems to make up with enthusiasm. Yo gotta admire that.

Another title you might like is "Golden Throats" released by Rhino Records some twenty or so years ago. A lineup of people who probably should not have been let near a microphone doing renditions of popular songs. You might especially like William Shatner's cover of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."
Posted by KDP on 02/01/18 at 01:14 PM
Nit: it's Sam Chalpin, but probably it got spell corrected to Chaplin.
Posted by ges on 02/01/18 at 07:53 PM
The Shaggs:
https://youtu.be/jQqK1CjE9bA
As a friend said when I sent her that, "Is the band even playing in the same room?"
Posted by Bill the Splut on 02/02/18 at 07:18 AM
The Shaggs played backward is strangely mesmerizing. This is probably the best way to try to listen to anything by William Shatner, too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukccP4PR494
Posted by Virtual on 02/02/18 at 04:36 PM
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