The Jazz Organ Scene

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Cherry Wainer Cherry (* 1935 in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa) was a piano player since childhood, she once said: "I was going to be a classical pianist and at the age of eight, I performed a concerto with an orchestra." When taking up the Hammond organ, she was influenced by American jazz organist Jimmy Smith.   In her first recording she collaborated with accordionist Nico Carstens on an early South African rock and roll 10" LP titled Flying High. On moving to the United Kingdom in 1958 with drummer Don Storer, her future husband, her flatmate, the singer Georgia Brown, introduced Cherry to her manager, Tito Burns, who managed to gain spots for her on the light-entertainment programme Lunchbox. She became a regular on ATV-Midland's Lunchbox from Birmingham, which was hosted by Noele Gordon.   From summer 1958 Cherry was the featured Hammond organist in groundbreaking young producer Jack Good's ABC-TV Oh Boy!, one of Britain's first teenage all-music 'Live' TV shows following Good's resignation from his BBC-TV hit show Six-Five Special. Oh Boy! featured rock and roll regularly, with Lord Rockingham's XI, serving as the house band used to support singers, which was led by Harry Robinson and included Benny Green and Red Price. Their single, "Hoots Mon", was number one in the UK charts in 1958. She occasionally sang vocals on the show, and became close to one of the acts who appeared regularly in Oh Boy!, the teenage Cliff Richard, effectively serving as his chaperone.   Along with the band, Cherry played in the 1959 Royal Variety Performance, held at the Palace Theatre, Manchester. In 1960, she appeared as herself in the musical Girls of the Latin Quarter.   Cherry married drummer Don Storer with whom she appeared regularly as a duo during the 1960s. They appeared regularly in a German television series, Beat! Beat! Beat (1967). Cherry and her husband moved to Las Vegas in 1968, working in cabaret. She later retired from music but remained in Las Vegas and worked in a gift shop. Cherry died on 14 November 2014 in Las Vegas.   from Wikipedia

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