Millie Kirkham, "The Nashville Soprano"
Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2022 9:30 pm
I listen to a canned country music program "If That Ain't Country", hosted by an Australian man called Western Red. This rather unlikely country emcee is a wealth of trivia concerning country music. Being an addict of trivia myself, I find his program quite possibly the best country music program on the air today. Sonny James would feature a soprano in many of his recordings. He had a string of 16 recordings that went to #1 on the charts in the 1960's, was a record producer, and liked using different sounds in country music. Harpsichord, organ and his famous soprano. I read where a member of the Country Gentlemen, the four-piece, all-male backup group for his band sand the soprano part. No so, according to Western Red. A lady named Millie Kirkham actually sang that part. Apparently she sang for several other famous recordings, listed in the Wikipedia blurb attached. She lived to a ripe old age of 91, passing in 2014.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millie_Kirkham
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millie_Kirkham