Recognition for Terri Hemmert, Doc Severinsen
On Saturday, May 27, during the Elmhurst College commencement exercises, the Board of Trustees will confer honorary doctoral degrees on two people who have spent their lives sharing the gift of music, and who have special connections to the College. They are alumna and popular Chicago radio host Terri Hemmert and Grammy-winning trumpeter and former Tonight Show bandleader Doc Severinsen.
“This is surreal— I was stunned when I got the call,” Hemmert said on Tuesday, April 25, when Elmhurst College President Troy D. VanAken stopped by WXRT studios to congratulate Hemmert on the air. “This means the world to me, because the four years I spent at Elmhurst were amazing.”
For more than 40 years, Hemmert has been playing “Chicago’s Finest Rock” as a disc jockey on WXRT-FM. She was Chicago’s first female morning drive personality before moving to the midday position in 1992, which she has held ever since. She was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2010. A humanitarian and activist, Hemmert has served on the board of directors for the Peace Museum, volunteered on behalf of the AIDS Pastoral Care Network and has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to create music education programs. She also has served on the advisory board of Elmhurst College’s radio station WRSE-FM, where she worked during her years as a student.
For 30 years, Doc Severinsen led the world-famous NBC Orchestra on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, until the show ended in 1992. But since then, Severinsen hasn’t stopped performing, touring with a quintet called The San Miguel Five as well as with his own big band. A Grammy award winner, Severinsen has recorded more than 30 albums, ranging from big band to classical.
In recent years, Severinsen has built a strong relationship with Elmhurst College, appearing with the Elmhurst College Jazz Band three times in the last three years. Their latest performances took place last October, when the Jazz Band backed him on a tour through Ohio. Severinsen returns to the College on June 17 to perform at June Jazz.
