Merrill's recording career has spanned six decades and she is popular with fans of jazz in Japan and Italy (where she lived for many years) as well as in her native United States. She has recorded and performed with some of the most notable figures in the American jazz scene.
Youth and early career in the states
Merrill was born in 1930 to Croatian immigrant parents. She began singing in jazz clubs in the Bronx at the age of fourteen. By the time she was sixteen, Merrill had taken up music full time. In 1952, Merrill made her recording debut when she was asked to sing "A Cigarette For Company" with the Earl Hines Band; the song was released on their Xanadu album. Etta Jones made her debut on the same album.
At this time she was married to musician Aaron Sachs. They divorced in 1956.
As a result of the exposure she received from "A Cigarette for Company" and two subsequent singles recorded for the Roost record label, Merrill was signed by Mercury Records for their new EmArcy label.
In 1954, Merrill recorded her first (and to date most acclaimed) LP, an eponymous record featuring legendary jazz trumpet player Clifford Brown and bassist/cellist Oscar Pettiford, among others. It was to be one of Brown's last recordings, as he was killed in a car accident just two years later. The album was produced and arranged by Quincy Jones, who was then just twenty-one years old. The success of Helen Merrill prompted Mercury to sign her for an additional four-album contract.
Merrill's follow-up to Helen Merrill was the 1956 LP, Dream of You, which was produced and arranged by bebop arranger and pianist Gil Evans. Evans' work on Dream of You was his first in many years. His arrangements on Merrill's laid the musical foundations for his work in following years with Miles Davis.
Success abroad
After recording sporadically through the late 1950s and 1960s, Merrill spent much of her time touring Europe, where she enjoyed more commercial success than she had in the United States. She settled for a time in Italy recording an album there, and doing live concerts with jazz notables Chet Baker, Romano Mussolini, and Stan Getz. Merrill returned to the U.S. in the 1960s, but moved to Japan in 1967 after touring there. Merrill developed a following in Japan that remains strong to this day. In addition to recording while in Japan, Merrill became involved in other aspects of the music industry, producing albums for Trio Records and hosting a show on a Tokyo radio station.
Later career
Merrill returned to the US in 1972 and has continued recording and regular touring since then. Her later career has seen her experiment in different music genres. She has recorded a bossa nova album, a Christmas album and a record's worth of Rodgers and Hammerstein, among many others.
Two albums from Merrill's later career have been tributes to past musical partners. In 1987, Merrill and Gil Evans recorded fresh arrangements of their classic Dream of You; the new recordings were released under the title Collaboration and became the most critically acclaimed of Merrill's albums in the 1980s.
In 1987 she co-produced a CD "Billy Eckstine sing with Benny Carter" and sing in duet with Mr.B two ballads.
In 1995 she recorded Brownie: Homage to Clifford Brown as a tribute to the late trumpeter.
One of Merrill's millennium released recordings draws from her Croatian heritage as well as her American upbringing. Jelena Ana Milcetic, a.k.a. Helen Merrill (2000), combines jazz, pop and blues songs with several traditional Croatian songs sung in Croatian.
Helen Merrill has been married three times, first to musician Aaron Sachs, second time to UPI vice president the late Donald J Brydon, and third to arranger-conductor the late Torrie Zito. She has one child, a son, Allan P Sachs, also a singer, who is professionally known as Alan Merrill.
Softly As in a Morning Sun
Helen Merrill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Gay and tender
Love came to me
Sweet surrender
Love came to me
In bright romantic splendor
Fickle was she
Faithful never
And clever
So will it be forever forever
Softly, as in a morning sunrise
The light of love comes stealing
Into a new born day, oh
Flaming with all the glow of sunrise
A burning kiss is sealing
The vow that all betray
For the passions that thrill love
And lift you high to heaven
Are the passions that kill love
And let you fall to hell
So ends the story
Softly, as in an evening sunset
The light that gave you glory
Will take it all away
The song "Softly As in a Morning Sunrise" is a ballad about the fleeting nature of love. It begins with the singer reflecting on how love came to her, "gay and tender" and "in bright romantic splendor," but ultimately proved "fickle" and "faithful never." The next verse compares love to the light of a morning sunrise - bright and beautiful, but also capable of being extinguished quickly. The lyrics warn that the same passions that can "lift you high to heaven" can also "kill love" and "let you fall to hell." The song ends with a melancholy tone, likening the fading of love to the softness of an evening sunset that takes away the light that once gave the singer glory.
Line by Line Meaning
Love came to me
I once experienced love in my life
Gay and tender
It was joyful and gentle
Love came to me
Love presented itself to me once again
Sweet surrender
I submitted completely to its charm
Love came to me
I met love yet again
In bright romantic splendor
It was attractive and grand
Fickle was she
My past love was not trustworthy
Faithful never
It never remained loyal to me
Fickle was she
My past love was unreliable
And clever
It was cunning and sly
So will it be forever forever
It will always be the same, forever and ever
Softly, as in a morning sunrise
Love creeps in subtly like a sunrise
The light of love comes stealing
Love enters in a sneaky manner without anyone noticing
Into a new born day, oh
It creeps in, ushering in a new day
Flaming with all the glow of sunrise
Love ignites with the passion of a rising sun
A burning kiss is sealing
A kiss seals the commitment and intensity of the love
The vow that all betray
Promises in love can be easily broken
For the passions that thrill love
The things that excite in romance
And lift you high to heaven
Can also lift you to an emotional high
Are the passions that kill love
But they can also be the reason why love can end
And let you fall to hell
Those passions can also bring you to emotional lows
So ends the story
Love fades and the story ends
Softly, as in an evening sunset
Just as the sun sets gently, love fades in the same manner
The light that gave you glory
Love gave a feeling of pride and honor
Will take it all away
But all of that can be taken away when love is lost
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., IMAGEM MUSIC INC
Written by: OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, II, OSCAR II HAMMERSTEIN, SIGMUND ROMBERG
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rebeccaz994
discovered her in 1979 when I was 21 and fell in love, she us one of the best singers ever! 👌💙🔥
@hiroakinumata6070
Very good voice Helen Merill !!
@cljinx22520
Where has she been all my life? A major talent!
@rebeccaz994
right on calvin!
@creativejazzpianistrobertr2172
Love it Helen Gorgeous
@mjyme
New discovery! Love her!!!!!!!!!!
@Tenderness1959
very nice sung this slowly. I knew the song from Artie Shaw, the magnificent clarinet player from the thirties and forties.
@nightimelady
love this, first time hearing this singer, thnaks
@alexsegal7607
I am surprised that she sings "A burning kiss is stealing" rather than "A burning kiss is sealing". The original text seems to make more sense to me.
@jamesharris-io3kz
Lovely