Suzanne Cloud (born September 7, 1951) is an American jazz singer, writer, and teacher.
Biography
Born in Philadelphia, Cloud grew up in a musical family in
Pennsauken Township, New Jersey
Pennsauken Township is a township in Camden County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 37,074, reflecting an increase of 1,189 (+3.3%) from the 35,885 count ...
. Her father played ukulele and banjo, and her mother sang. Cloud studied piano and sang in musicals while a student at
Pennsauken High School
Pennsauken High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school in Pennsauken Township, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as the lone secondary school of the Pennsauken Pu ...
. After graduating from high school, she attended nursing school at Methodist Hospital in Philadelphia. She appeared in regional productions of ''
The Pajama Game
''The Pajama Game'' is a musical based on the 1953 novel '' 7½ Cents'' by Richard Bissell.
The book is by George Abbott and Richard Bissell; the music and lyrics are by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. and dances were staged by Bob Fosse in his c ...
'' and '' Bell, Book, and Candle''. She received a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University–Camden and a master's and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania.
In the mid-1970s, Cloud was hired as the lead singer for the disco band Autumn. She recorded jingles for banks, retail stores, and other businesses, including "Come Fly with Me" for the Playboy Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In 1980 she concentrated more on jazz while writing with producer and arranger Richie Rome. In 1982, she began working with pianist Eddie Green, singing jazz in hotels in Philadelphia, casinos in Atlantic City, and in neighborhood jazz clubs. Encounter Records released her debut album, ''I Like It'', in 1986.
Cloud has been the director of the Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Project, an archival initiative, and was the founding executive director of
Jazz Bridge
Jazz Bridge is an arts services organization that was unofficially founded in 2004 by jazz singers Suzanne Cloud and Wendy Simon to address the lack of support for individual jazz and blues musicians and vocalists in crisis in the tri-state, lowe ...
, an organization incorporated in 2005 with a friend, jazz singer Wendy Simon, to help local jazz and blues musicians in crisis. She began Last Call at the Downbeat for PIFA 2016 with a new composition by saxophonist Bobby Zankel and his Warriors of the Wonderful Sound jazz orchestra with the students of Grover Washington Jr. Middle School, which was performed at the Kimmel Center.
Cloud is the editor of ''The Real Philadelphia Book, 2nd edition'' with over 300 jazz and blues compositions by Philadelphia musicians. She wrote a musical about Dizzy Gillespie's early years in Philadelphia for the Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts in 2014.
Awards and honors
* Named a Creative Connector by the Philadelphia Leadership Council in 2012 and featured by
WHYY-FM
WHYY-FM (90.9 MHz, "91 FM") is a public radio station licensed to serve Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its broadcast tower is located in the city's Roxborough neighborhood at () while its studios and offices are located on Independence Mall in Cen ...
* Received a grant in 2016 from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage to present the Philadelphia Real Book Concerts: New Music in Jazz and Blues, This series of concerts helped stimulate city's jazz community and expanded the Jazz Bridge Neighborhood Concerts established by Cloud in