Ranee Lee, CM (born October 26, 1942 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York City) is 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 Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

and

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

who resides in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec. She is also an

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 ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

. Referred as “''Montreal's Queen of Jazz,''” Lee is a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall of ...

winner, two-time Top Canadian Female Jazz Vocalist by Jazz Report Magazine and was honored with the International Association of Jazz Educators Awards for her outstanding contribution to jazz music.

Biography

Born in

, Lee moved to Montreal at the age of 28 in 1970. She toured North America in the 1970s as a jazz drummer and tenor saxophonist. She subsequently landed a starring role playing

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

in ''Lady Day'', and won a

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

for her performance. She subsequently began recording as a vocalist, releasing her first album ''Live at the Bijou'' in 1984. She wrote and starred in ''Dark Divas, The Musical'', a tribute to the lives and careers of seven of the most popular female jazz singers of the 20th century:

Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

Pearl Bailey Pearl Mae Bailey (March 29, 1918 – August 17, 1990) was an American actress, singer and author. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in '' St. Louis Woman'' in 1946. She received a Special Tony Award for the title role i ...

Lena Horne Lena Mary Calhoun Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010) was an American dancer, actress, singer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years, appearing in film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of th ...

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, and

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "Jazz royalty, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine ...

. Her music appears in the animated short film ''

Black Soul ''Black Soul'' (french: Âme noire) is a 2000 animated short by Haitian Canadian filmmaker Martine Chartrand that uses paint-on-glass animation and music to portray defining moments of Black history. Produced by the National Film Board of Can ...

'' (2002). She is also a children's book writer (author of ''Nana, What Do You Say?''); an educator, long associated with the

University of Laval A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in Quebec City and the

Schulich School of Music The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after benef ...

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

; and she hosted the television series ''The Performers''.

Honors and awards

Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award in 1988 for her musical and actorial achievements. Lee was named a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the ...

in 2006. She received the

International Association of Jazz Educators International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE), formerly a not-for-profit corporation based in Manhattan, Kansas, was a volunteer-run organization that, among other things, allocated student scholarships through its approved festivals program. ...

award in 2004 and 2008. She won a 2010

for her album ''Ranee Lee – Lives Upstairs''.

Discography

* ''All Grown Up'' (RCA Victor, 1980) * ''Live at the Bijou'' (Justin Time, 1984) * ''Deep Song: a tribute to Billie Holiday'' with Oliver Jones (Justin Time, 1989) * ''The Musicals: Jazz on Broadway'' (Justin Time, 1992) * ''I Thought About You'' (Justin Time, 1994) * ''You Must Believe in Swing'' (Justin Time, 1996) * ''Seasons of Love'' (Justin Time, 1997) * ''Presents Dark Divas'' (Justin Time, 2000) * ''Songs from the Great Canadian Songbook'' (Justin Time, 2003) * ''Just You, Just Me'' with Oliver Jones (Justin Time, 2005) * ''Lives Upstairs'' (Justin Time, 2009) * ''A Celebration in Time'' with Oliver Jones, (Justin Time, 2010) * ''What's Going On'' (Justin Time, 2014)

References

External links

*Jim Santella
review of "Ranee Lee & Oliver Jones: Just You, Just Me (2005)"
All About Jazz, November 9, 2005.
Justin Time (label): Ranee Lee.Ranee Lee at Wild West Artist Management.
*Ricardo McRae
"Ranee Lee"
''Who's Who in Black Canada'', March 15, 2011. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ranee 1942 births Living people Actresses from Montreal American expatriate musicians in Canada Anglophone Quebec people Canadian musical theatre actresses Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Canadian women jazz singers Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year winners Members of the Order of Canada Musicians from Brooklyn Singers from Montreal 20th-century Black Canadian women singers 21st-century Black Canadian women singers