Johnny Mercer interview with Willis Conover, January 30, 1970

Item — othertype: Oral History

Identifier: M011_MercerJ-ConoverW

Staff Only

Johnny Mercer interview with Willis Conover

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Scope and Contents

This interview was recorded by Mr. Conover, who intended to use the recording in subsequent broadcasts for the Voice of America. In the course of the interview, Mr. Conover supplies Mercer song titles for Mr. Mercer to comment on. The conversation touches on such topics as how the songs came to be written, which recordings of the songs Mr. Mercer likes best, and alternate lyrics that Mr. Mercer may have written. Mr. Mercer also discusses what it means, in his opinion, to be from the South, what "Southernness" means, and reminisces about what California was like when he first moved to Hollywood.

Dates

Creation: January 30, 1970

Creator

Mercer, Johnny, 1909-1976 (Interviewee, Person)

Restrictions on Access

Oral history available for research.

Biographical Note on Willis Conover

Willis Conover, who was born in Buffalo in 1920, began his career as a radio announcer in Maryland in the early 1940s. In his early twenties he discovered jazz, and after service in the Army during World War II, he became a disc jockey for the only jazz radio program in the city of Washington D.C. In 1955 the Voice of America chose Conover to be the host of a jazz program, a show that attained great popularity both at home and in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. At the height of the Cold War, an estimated 30 million listeners in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union tuned in to the show. Conover continued broadcasting until a few months before his death in 1996.

Biographical Note on Johnny Mercer

John Herndon Mercer (1909-1976), a native of Savannah, Georgia, began writing songs at the age of fifteen and eventually became one of the foremost figures of 20th century American popular music. His catalog includes many numbers that have become American classics, and his activities as lyricist, composer, performer and businessman span a period of nearly five decades.