born on december 15 1938 in kansas city, missouri, jerry got a guitar and begin his singing career at age fourteen his mother was a nite club torch singer and after he graduated from high school he formed a band and begin to make entertainment his professional career also. in 1958 he signed a recording contract with gene autry’s challenge records in los angeles. in late summer challenge released “how the time flies” and it became jerry wallace’s first hit. “diamond ring ” was the second release on the the label and didn’t get much air play. early in 1959 “primrose lane” was released and became a smash hit nationwide. other release’s on challenge were “little coco plam”, “there she goes”, which was a big hit in the early 50′s for country singer carl smith. it didn’t do that good for wallace. later release’s were “life’s a holiday”, which got fair air play. however, “shutters and boards” and “in the misty moonlight” were solid hits. primrose lane was his biggest hit on challenge. he signed with mercury records in august of 1964. mercury released his only single for the company “it’s a cotton candy world”, which leaned toward country music. jerry wallace had always had a crooner’s style of singing, and did well in pop music from mercury he moved to decca and had a big hit with “to get to you” which charted on pop and country. his biggest hit came from a song entitled “if you leave me tonight i’ll cry” which was features in a tv episode of rod sterling’s twilight zone. it was a tremendous crossover record in 1972 which lead to many good things in the recording business for jerry wallace for years afterward. after many suscessful years in entertainment jerry wallace has retired to the good life. could it be the “twilight zone”???

~ Widmarc Clark