Best remembered for her Grammy-winning song "Queen of the House," Jody Miller released a number of Top 5 country singles during the late 1960s and early 1970s. She was born as "Myra Joy Miller" in Phoenix, Arizona, on November 29, 1941. Raised in Los Angeles and rural Oklahoma, she signed with Capitol Records and made her musical debut with 1963's Wednesday's Child Is Full of Woe. The single"He Walks Like a Man" followed in 1964, reaching the Top 10 in Australia and becoming a minor hit in America. One year later, she released "Queen of the House" as a response to Roger Miller's "King of the Road." The song became a hit, peaking at Number 5 on the Hot Country Songs chart and winning a Grammy Award for "Best Female Country Vocal Performance." Later that year, "Home of the Brave" became a Number 25 hit on the Billboard 100 and Number 5 smash in Canada. Miller truly hit her stride during the early 1970s, though, releasing 11 different Top 40 hits between 1970s and 1973. Those songs include her country cover of The Chiffons' "He's So Fine," which peaked at Number 5, as well as the original track "There's a Party Goin' On," which climbed to Number 4. Her albums also enjoyed Top 40 success, including He's So Fine (which peaked at Number 12 in 1971) and Good News (a Number 18 hit in 1973). After the song "When the New Wears Off Our Love" stalled at Number 25 in 1976, though, Miller never enjoyed another Top 40 hit. She had unofficially retired from the music business by the early 1980s, although she did resurface in 1990 as a gospel singer, releasing several albums of Christian music. After struggling with Parkinson's disease during her final decade of life, she passed away at 80 years old on October 6, 2022.
