Born in Coldwater, Michigan, in 1894, Doerr settled in San
Francisco, where he attended music school and played in the Art
Hickman orchestra. As a saxophone soloist and bandleader, he worked
out of Chicago and New York for most of the 1920s and 30s.
Doerr returned to the San Francisco bay area in the 40s and
worked mostly as a precision machinist thereafter. He died in 1973,
aged 79.