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1. ELLA FITZGERALD
She grew up poor, and was homeless for a year before she got
her big break in a talent contest at the Apollo Theatre in
Harlem. While still a teenager, she became the vocalist for
the Chick Webb band, where she sang such hits as "A-Tisket,
A-Tasket." She matured into perhaps the most gifted jazz
singer of all, excelling in bop-flavored scat singing , in
ballads, and in recorded collections of the songs of America's
greatest composers. Even though she's gone, she's still
called "The First Lady of Song," and her recordings
show that the title was well-earned.
2. BILLIE HOLIDAY
Her childhood was a
nightmare, but in her teens she found that she could sing, and
she made her first recordings when she was 18 with a group
that included Benny Goodman. She developed a very personal and
dramatic style, and worked with such stars as Lester Young,
who gave her the nickname of "Lady Day." Even while
battling racism and personal problems, she gave the world
music that influenced countless later singers, and that is
unrivalled for musicality and honesty of expression.
3. SARAH VAUGHAN
As a child, she sang and played piano for
her church. While she was still in her teens, Earl Hines hired
her for his big band. She made her recording debut when she
joined Billy Eckstine's bebop big band, where she came under
the musical spell of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In a
long and distinguished career, she used her almost operatic
voice to sing every style from bop to pop, showing a wide
range and great musical ability equalled by few other singers.
4. DINAH WASHINGTON
Ruth Lee Jones got her start in Chicago as a gospel singer,
but began performing in nightclubs in her teens. When she sang
with Lionel Hampton, she took the name under which she became
a star. She got the nickname "Queen of the Blues"
for her many blues and R & B hits, but also made jazz
albums with both small and large groups, and attained much
success in mainstream pop as well. Her large, dramatic voice
and musical versatility influenced such later jazz singers as
Nancy Wilson and Diane Schuur.
5. CARMEN MCRAE
She was a protégé of
Billie Holiday, and got her first big break as vocalist with
Benny Carter's big band. She also learned the language of
bebop while singing and playing piano in New York clubs. In
1954, "Down Beat" named her as best new female
singer, and for the next four decades she was a legend of
jazz. Her worldly-wise, earthy delivery has been an influence
on younger singers like Vanessa Rubin, but will never be
duplicated.
6. NANCY WILSON
Her musical influences included Dinah
Washington and Little Jimmy Scott. While trying to break into
singing, she worked days as a secretary. She soon gained a
reputation in jazz circles, and recorded classic albums with
such stars as Cannonball Adderley and George Shearing. She
also ventured into mainstream pop and R & B music and had
her own award-winning TV show, while continuing to sing jazz.
She has also acted on such TV series as "Hawaii 5-0"
and "The Cosby Show," and has hosted National
Public Radio's "Jazz
Profiles" series heard on many public radio stations.
7. ERNESTINE ANDERSON
She sang with Russell Jacquet's
big band when she was only 12. In the 1950s, she
caught the ear of the jazz world, and was dubbed "the
toast of the nation's critics." When times grew hard
for many jazz musicians in the 1960s, she moved to Europe, and
then went into semi-retirement in America. She returned to
singing in the 1970s at the urging of bassist Ray Brown, and
has since recorded styles ranging from blues to ballads with
strings.
8. SHIRLEY HORN
This Washington, D.C. native started singing and playing piano
as a child. She developed a following among jazz musicians and
fans for her sultry voice and economical style, but chose to
stay in Washington while raising her daughter, and ran a
popular jazz club there for years. In the 1980s, she started
to perform more outside her hometown, and her recordings
gained her a worldwide audience. Miles Davis once said that
his friend was "long overdue" for recognition, and
she won a Grammy Award for an album she did in his memory.
9. NINA SIMONE
She showed musical
talent as a child in her church choir, and supporters in her
hometown helped pay for her studies at the Juilliard School of
Music. After she was rejected for a scholarship at another
school due to her color, she worked as a singer-pianist to pay
for her studies, and soon got her first record contract. She
wrote and sang protest songs at the height of the civil rights
movement, and left the United States for political and
financial reasons, returning only occasionally to perform
here. Her forthright musical style has influences from jazz,
classical, soul, folk and world music.
10. ETTA JONES
After moving from her native South Carolina to New York, she
worked with such great musicians as Buddy Johnson and Earl
Hines. While still a young singer, she had a hit with the
classic "Don't Go to Strangers." Her stylistic
roots were in R & B, but she has had a distinguished jazz
career, with many recordings and a long partnership with tenor
saxophonist Houston Person. She continues to perform and to
record, and in recent years she has combined her bluesy vocals
with the backing of such colleagues as vibraphonist Milt
Jackson and pianist Benny Green.
11. ABBEY LINCOLN
Anna Marie Wooldridge
was her given name, and she is also known as Aminata Moseka
after being given the name by an African leader. She started
her career in nightclubs, and acquired more jazz knowledge by
performing with many of the greats of her day. She also became
a political artist during her marriage to drummer Max Roach,
with whom she did the famous "Freedom Now Suite."
Later, she recorded her own albums and started writing many of
her own songs. In recent years, she has had a revival of her
career, and still has much to say both musically and
personally.
12. DIANE SCHUUR
She had her first
professional gig at the age of 10 singing country music, but
turned her talents to jazz, and her career took off after Stan
Getz heard her remarkable voice at the Monterey Jazz Festival.
Within a few years, she sang at the White House with Getz and
got her first major recording contract. Her album with the
Count Basie Orchestra is one of the biggest-selling jazz
recordings of all time, and her recordings range from
standards to blues and smooth jazz.
13. LENA HORNE
She made her debut at
the Cotton Club at 16, where she learned much from Duke
Ellington and other great musicians. She persevered despite
prejudice in Hollywood and opposition to her support of civil
rights, and became a legend thanks to her talent, beauty and
courage. She has appeared in many films, in nightclubs, on TV,
and on Broadway, where she won a Tony for her one-woman show.
She won a Grammy at the age of 79, and is still performing in
her 80s.
14. BETTY CARTER
Her real name was
Lillie Mae Jones, but when she sang with Lionel Hampton's
band, he nicknamed her "Betty Bebop." For years, she
had problems finding work and record contracts because many in
the music industry misunderstood her very individual style.
She finally got the recognition she deserved when she won a
Grammy award in 1988. She has been an influence on such
younger singers as Cassandra Wilson, and such jazz stars as
John Hicks and Benny Green learned much about their craft by
playing for her.
15. ROSEMARY CLOONEY
She started in the
music business by singing duets on the radio and in big bands
with her sister, and became a solo star when singers were the
rage after World War II. She hated singing the pop novelties
forced on her in her recording career, but she also got to do
classic albums with such greats as Duke Ellington and Nelson
Riddle. She also became a star in TV and films. Her career and
personal life collapsed in the 1960s, but she fought back, and
today she is a greatly loved jazz veteran who is still drawing
crowds and making recordings.
16. PEGGY LEE
She began life as
Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota. Her early
years were bleak due to poverty and child abuse, but when she
listened to Count Basie on the radio, she knew she wanted to
sing, and escaped from her unhappy home to follow her dreams.
She had her first hit with "Why Don't You Do
Right?" with Benny Goodman, and later began a
distinguished solo career in jazz and pop singing, often
writing her own material. Her sultry sound and perfectionism
in music and stagecraft have been giving listeners
"Fever" for decades.
17. CASSANDRA WILSON
She started playing piano and guitar
as a child, and began singing professionally in her late
teens. After moving to New York, she began working with Dave
Holland, Abbey Lincoln, and the M-Base collective led by Steve
Coleman. She has matured into one of the most unique of today's
jazz singers, using her smoky voice in music influenced by
blues, folk and the pop music of her youth.
18. CAROL SLOANE
She started
singing professionally at the age of 14, and after Jon
Hendricks heard her, he chose her to sub for Annie Ross with
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. When times were tough, she worked
as a secretary in North Carolina and sang occasional gigs in
the South. In the 1970s, her career picked up again after she
acquired a following in Japan. Since then, she has also
attained renewed fame in her own country for her warm and
swinging style, and her insightful writings about jazz singing
can be seen in magazines and on the Internet.
19. DEE DEE BRIDGEWATER
She got her love of
jazz from her dad, who played trumpet for Dinah Washington and
taught such jazz stars as George Coleman and Charles Lloyd.
After singing rock and R & B as a teenager, she was
discovered by the band director at the University of Michigan,
and made a tour of the Soviet Union. During the 1970s, she
made a reputation in jazz, appearing and recording with
artists ranging from Dizzy Gillespie to Stanley Clarke. She
has also been in such musicals as "The Wiz" and
"Sophisticated Ladies." "Dear Ella," her
1997 tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, won her a Grammy Award.
20. ANITA O'DAY
When she became a big band vocalist, she wore a band uniform
instead of a gown because she wanted to be seen as a musician,
and not as just a pretty face. Her 1955 album
"Anita" was the first LP ever issued by Verve
Records, and her appearance at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival
was the highlight of the film "Jazz on a Summer's
Day." She came back from a near-death experience,
conquered a drug problem, founded her own record label, and
wrote a candid memoir of her dramatic life. Despite serious
health problems in recent years, she continues to perform, and
her improvisation and sense of swing will always be her
trademark.
21. DIANA
KRALL
This Canadian studied classical piano, but also learned to
love jazz when she heard Fats Waller records as a child. She
has been performing since she was 15, and won a scholarship to
Boston's famous Berklee College of Music. She also learned
from such mentors as pianist Jimmy Rowles (pron: rolls) and
bassist Ray Brown. By the mid-1990s, she was earning rave
reviews for her singing and her piano playing. Her intimate
singing style has made her into one of the most popular jazz
singers of the new generation.
22. CHRIS CONNOR
She began as a clarinetist, but in her college days she sang
with a big band, and at age 20 she went to New York to try her
luck as a singer. After a stint with Claude Thornhill's
band, which turned out many musicians of the cool school, she
replaced June Christy in Stan Kenton's band, and had her
first hit there before leaving to become a solo act. She
became one of the most popular cool jazz singers of the 1950s,
but later battled career and personal problems. After getting
her life back on track, she found a new audience, and still
performs around the world.
23. DIANNE REEVES
She began singing with her high school
band, and performed with trumpeter Clark Terry while she was a
student at the University of Colorado. She picked up world
music influences from working with Sergio Mendes and Harry
Belafonte. She has sung music ranging from Duke Ellington to
Joni Mitchell, and has also written much of her own material.
Her rich voice and eclectic approach make her one of the most
individual of today's jazz singers.
24. JUNE CHRISTY
She wanted to be a big band singer from her earliest
childhood, and began performing at the age of 13. By the time
she was 20, she had sung with several bands, and became famous
when she took Anita O'Day's place with the Stan Kenton
Orchestra. She also made such legendary solo albums as
"Something Cool," "Fair and Warmer," and
"The Misty Miss Christy." Her husky vocal quality
and expressive gifts especially suited her for the cool jazz
of the 1950s, and a new generation of jazz fans has discovered
her thanks to the reissue of her classic albums on CD.
25. ANNIE ROSS
She was born in England, and was the niece of entertainer Ella
Logan. By the time she was five, she was in Hollywood, singing
in "Our Gang" comedies. As a young jazz singer, she
recorded with such stars as King Pleasure, helping to
popularize the style known as vocalese. She was part of the
legendary group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, and became a solo
star as well. She has acted in such films as "Short
Cuts" and "Superman 3," and recently went back
on tour with her former colleague Jon Hendricks.
26. HELEN MERRILL
27. CLEO LAINE
28. BETTY ROCHE
29. MILDRED BAILEY
30. NATALIE COLE
31. CARMEN BRADFORD
32. BESSIE SMITH
33. KARRIN ALLYSON
34. MAXINE SULLIVAN
35. NNENNA FREELON
36. MARLENA SHAW
37. JERI SOUTHERN
38. IRENE REID
39. ETTA JAMES
40. VANESSA RUBIN
41. JEANIE BRYSON
42. LAVERNE BUTLER
43. BARBARA MORRISON
44. JANIS SIEGEL
45. MARY STALLINGS
46. NANCY KELLY
47. DELLA GRIFFIN
48. GLORIA LYNNE
49. RUTH BROWN
50. SUSANNAH MCCORKLE
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