Rochester Rockabilly Star Dies at 84

We send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and many fans of Gerald “Jerry Engler” Englerth who passed away on June 24, 2020 at the age of 84.

Englerth, a Rochester native, was a local Rockabilly sensation who scored a hit record in 1957 with the song “Sputnik” (The Satellite Girl). He once performed at a Rochester War Memorial show that included Buddy Holly & The Crickets, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino and others. Englerth would go on to build a friendship with Holly and was invited to travel to Clovis, N.M., for a session at Norman Petty’s studio, where Holly made his records. Buddy even played guitar on and produced some of the tracks that Jerry recorded there.