June Richmond (July 9, 1915 in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

– August 14, 1962 in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

singer and

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. June Richmond is considered the first African-American jazz singer who sang regularly in a white band when she appeared in 1938, with

Jimmy Dorsey James Francis Dorsey (February 29, 1904 – June 12, 1957) was an American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist, composer and big band leader. He recorded and composed the jazz and pop standards "I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People ...

's Orchestra, with whom she recorded several sides for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

. She had previously worked in

Les Hite Les Hite (February 13, 1903 – February 6, 1962) was an American jazz bandleader. Life and career Born in DuQuoin, Illinois, United States, Hite attended the University of Illinois and played saxophone with family members in a band in the 1920s. ...

's band in California, and after her time at Dorsey she joined

Cab Calloway Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...

(1938), with whom she recorded for

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

, and then worked from 1939 to 1942 in Andy Kirk's orchestra, again recording for Decca. After she left Kirk, she launched a successful career as a soloist; In 1946, she had a featured role in the Broadway musical ''Are You With It?'' In 1948 she appeared mostly in Europe. She first settled in France, where she sang worked with

Henri Renaud Henri Renaud (20 April 1925, in Villedieu-sur-Indre, France – 17 October 2002, in Paris) was a French jazz pianist, record producer and record company executive. His styles reflected the decades when he was musically active: he played in the sw ...

, and later in Scandinavia. Her first recordings under her own name originated in 1945 when she signed with

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

, releasing several singles, including two songs from her Broadway musical "Are You With It?" She then moved to Europe, where she recorded six titles in Stockholm with

Svend Asmussen Svend Asmussen (28 February 1916 – 7 February 2017) was a Danish jazz violinist, known as "The Fiddling Viking". A Swing style virtuoso, he played and recorded with many of the other jazz musicians, including Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and S ...

. In 1957, in Paris, she recorded another four numbers with the orchestra of

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

, "I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues", "Sleep", "Everybody's Doing It" and "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea". She also recorded a series of 45 EP albums for the Odeon, Barclay and Varga labels and a 10" LP of eight songs from ''Porgy and Bess'' sung in French. She appeared in several films in the 1940s and 1950s, including ''Murder in Swingtime'' (1937), ''

Carolina Blues ''Carolina Blues'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Leigh Jason and written by Joseph Hoffman, Al Martin (screenwriter), Al Martin and Jack Henley. The film stars Kay Kyser, Ann Miller, Victor Moore, Jeff Donnell, Howard Freeman, Georgi ...

'' (1944), ''

Reet, Petite, and Gone ''Reet, Petite, and Gone'' is a 1947 American musical race film produced and released by Astor Pictures. It was the first feature film directed by short-subject director William Forest Crouch and stars Louis Jordan and June Richmond. Plot L ...

'' (1947), ''The Dreamer'' (1948), ''Tour of the Grand Dukes'' (France, 1953), and ''Liebe, Jazz und Übermut'' (Germany, 1957). June Richmond died of a heart attack in 1962 at the age of 47. A comprehensive two-disc CD collection, ''Hey, Lawdy Mama!'' was released in 2022 by

Jasmine Records Jasmine Records is a London-based record label that specialises in jazz reissues. History The label was founded in 1982 as part of Hasmick Promotions, issuing LPs and cassettes of jazz and popular vocalists. Jasmine diversified into country mu ...

Discography

* Cab Calloway, ''1938-1939'' (Classics) * Andy Kirk, ''1939-1940'', ''1943-1949'' (Classics) * Harold Nicholas, June Richmond, Andy Bey, ''Jazz in Paris'' (Gitanes/Universal, 2000) * ''June Richmond--Hey Lawdy Mama! Rare Recordings 1938-1961'' (Jasmine) * ''June Richmond Chante en Francais'' (Ild) * ''June Richmond Chante en Anglais'' (Ild) * ''June Richmond Chante Porgy and Bess en Francais'' (Odeon) * Andy Kirk and June Richmond, ''New Orleans Jump'' (Sounds of Yesteryear)

References

Sources

* Bielefelder Katalog 1988 & 2002 * Richard Cook & Brian Morton: ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'', 8th Edition, London, Penguin, 2006; *

Leonard Feather Leonard Geoffrey Feather (13 September 1914 – 22 September 1994) was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer, who was best known for his music journalism and other writing. Biography Feather was born in London, England, into an u ...

and

Ira Gitler Ira Gitler (December 18, 1928 – February 23, 2019) was an American jazz historian and journalist. The co-author of ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'' with Leonard Feather—the most recent edition appeared in 1999—he wrote hundreds of ...

, ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz''. Oxford/New York, 1999; * Will Friedwald: ''Swinging Voices of America - Ein Kompendium großer Stimmen''. Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wördern, 1992;

External links

* Biography by Scott Yanow for Allmusic * {{DEFAULTSORT:Richmond, June 1915 births 1962 deaths American women jazz singers American jazz singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers