She has sung on movie soundtracks, such as the song "He Quit Me" (written by Warren Zevon as "She Quit Me") for the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, and "Am I Blue?" from the 1984 film The Cotton Club for which she recorded the singing part of actress Diane Lane.
Miller was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the eldest of three children of Bernard Miller and Hilda (née Leviton) Miller. Her father worked for RCA Records in Publicity and Promotion.
She was involved with a singing group in high school and sang folk music with some friends, but at the time she was not thinking of music as a career. In 1959/1960 the family moved to Mamaroneck, New York. After high school she attended NYU in the Bronx (uptown campus) for one year, but felt undirected there and decided not to stay.
A family friend, Hy Zaret (who wrote the lyrics to "Unchained Melody"), asked her parents if she could sing a demo for him to pitch to Joan Baez, so her mother took her into the city to Aura Recording Studios on 7th Ave. As she was singing in the studio, it was recommended to her mother that Lesley study with Helen Hobbs Jordan, a private music teacher with a studio in the original Steinway Hall. Miller learned music theory, sightreading, and piano, and after 3+1⁄2 years she ventured out to try getting some work.
Career
Toni Wine (left), Valerie Simpson (middle), and Lesley Miller (right) in a recording studio, 1966
Miller's first auditions were at the Brill Building, where she introduced herself to whichever publishing companies were listed in the lobby. Chip Taylor and Ted Darryl gave her one of her first professional jobs.
Reparata and the Delrons signed with RCA in 1965, and producer Phil Spector decided that for their first single, "I Can Tell", a third singer was necessary. It's a common misconception that Lesley Gore sang on that track, but in fact it was Miller, while Gore recorded her own version later on.[1]
Miller went on to release music under her own name for both RCA and MGM Records between 1964 and 1969.
As a background singer, Miller has performed for many recording artists since the early 1960s. Her singing can also be heard in several films and on their soundtracks.
Miller has also performed on hundreds of advertising jingles, most notably for producers/composers Steve Karmen, Tom Dawes, and Ginny Redington (Twinstar Music), David Horowitz (David Horowitz Music Assoc.), Susan Hamilton (HEA Music), and David Lucas (Lucas/McFaul). Quite a few jingles won awards and became famous enough to enter the pop culture mainstream for that time, such as "Reach Out and Touch Someone" for AT&T.
Miller also provided vocals for the Sesame Street short, "Milk", which aired continuously from 1975 into the 1980s. [2]
Since the mid-1980s, Miller has collaborated with arranger and composer Denis Martin.
In recent years Miller has participated in many "classic girl group" tribute performances, and is singing in “Dusty”, a trio alongside Sherryl Marshall and Deborah Berg.[3]
Personal life
Miller was married to arranger, producer, and composer Alan Lorber from 1966 to 1972. They have one son. She currently resides in Florida.
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