"Jerry Wallace" has been added to your list of bookmarked artists
close
Jerry Wallace
Biography
Dubbed "Mr. Smooth" for his warm, velvety vocal approach, Jerry Wallace scored a pair of pop smashes during the late '50s before enjoying even greater commercial success as a country singer. Born in Guilford, MO, on December 15, 1928, Wallace was the son of a grocery store owner. After a brief stay in Arizona he settled in Hollywood, and following a U.S. Navy stint he signed to the Allied label to cut a series of little-noticed singles including "Little Miss One," "That's What a Woman Can Do," and "Runnin' After Love." Upon signing to the Challenger label, Wallace notched a Top 20 pop hit via 1958's "How the Time Flies," followed a year later by the million-selling "Primrose Lane." However, his pop career quickly stalled, and for a time he focused on his acting career, appearing in two 1964 features, Flipper's New Adventure and Goodbye Charlie. That same year Wallace scored minor hits with "Shutters and Boards" and "In the Misty Moonlight," singles that heralded the beginning of his shift to the country market. A move to Mercury Records accelerated the transformation, although follow-ups like "Life's Gone and Slipped Away" and "Sweet Child of Sunshine" earned scant attention from Nashville radio.