Jeri Southern (August 5, 1926 – August 4, 1991) was an American jazz pianist and singer. 　　Career 　　After beginning her career at the Blackstone Hotel in Omaha, she joined a United States Navy recruiting tour during World War II. In the late 1940s, she worked in Chicago clubs where she once played piano for Anita O'Day. During this period, Southern became known for her singing, particularly for her renditions of torch songs. 　　She signed with Decca Records in 1951 and became known both for pop and jazz. The 1950s saw her at the height of her career. The first recording of the pop standard "When I Fall in Love" was recorded by Southern accompanied by the song's composer Victor Young and his orchestra in April 1952. In 1955, her recording of "An Occasional Man" reached #89 in the Billboard pop chart. In that decade, she sang in a few films and in 1957 she had a Top 30 hit with "Fire Down Below". The track peaked at #22 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1957. After her switch to Capitol Records, she had success doing interpretations of Cole Porter with Billy May arranging some of the more humorous examples. 　　Southern's final recording was released by Capitol records in 1961. 　　In the 1960s she gave up the music industry to teach, and later moved to Hollywood, California to work on film composing with Hugo Friedhofer. She wrote Interpreting Popular Music At The Keyboard during her final years.