Jerold Ottley

After Ottley retired in 1999, he was involved in volunteer work for four years as administrator and teacher for the Choir's Training School at Temple Square, as a Choir staff volunteer to revise the choral library computer database, as artistic advisor to the Salt Lake Interfaith Roundtable, and as bishop of his ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). From 2005 to 2008, he directed the University Chorale, taught music education courses, and assisted in administration at Brigham Young University–Hawaii, a LDS Church-owned university in the town of Laie, on Oahu's north shore.

He was an actor and director, known for Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (1995), Mr.

Ottley's duties with the Choir included the preparation and performance of nearly thirteen hundred weekly radio and television broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. He also led the choir in more than thirty commercial recordings and more than twenty major tours, in addition to regular concerts in the Choir's home in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. The group sang at the inaugural march of the 1981 inauguration of Ronald Reagan, who labelled them "America’s Choir". Eight years later, they performed at the inauguration of George H. W. Bush, who described them as "a national treasure". Ottley appointed Bonnie Goodliffe as one of the Choir's organists in 1988. She was its first female organist; Goodliffe later described Ottley as being "very forward-thinking". He also established the group's annual Christmas concert.

Ottley first worked with the Choir as assistant director on a part-time basis. In 1974, he was requested to act as the Choir's musical director and accepted the position, succeeding Jay E. Welch. Under Ottley's leadership, the rules regarding the Choir became more restrictive. Prospective members needed to have a recommendation from the lay leaders of their local congregation (ward or branch). This is recognized as giving the group a more religious direction. An attendance policy was also instituted and auditions came to be more formal and organized.

Ottley married JoAnn South in 1956, and they remained married until his death. She was an accomplished soprano who, like her husband, was a Fulbright scholar at Cologne's Academy of Music. Together, they had two children. Their daughter, Allison, followed her mother's footsteps and became a singer; their son played the keyboard.

Jerold Ottley was born on April 7, 1934 in Murray, Utah, USA as Jerold Don Ottley.