Daphne Christina May (30 March 1961 – 26 March 2022), known professionally as Tina May, was an English

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 m ...

vocalist.

Early life and career

The younger of two daughters born to Harry May and Daphne E. Walton,"Tina May Obituary
''The Guardian''. April 10, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022. May lived in

Frampton-on-Severn Frampton on Severn is a village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. The population is 1,432. Geography The village is approximately south of Gloucester, at . It lies on the east bank of the River Severn, and on the west bank of the ...

when she was young and attended Stroud High School and later

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to p ...

. She played clarinet from an early age, before studying classical singing at Cheltenham. She began singing jazz while attending Cardiff University.Lacey, Hester (13 August 1995)
"How We Met: Rory Bremner and Tina May"
''The Independent''. p. 66. Retrieved 27 March 2022. May recorded numerous albums for 33 Jazz Records. She also worked with

Tony Coe Anthony George Coe (born 29 November 1934) is an English jazz musician who plays clarinet, bass clarinet, flute as well as soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones. Career Born in Canterbury, Kent, England, Coe started out on clarinet and was self- ...

Nikki Iles Nikki Anne Iles ( née Burnham; born 16 May 1963) is a British jazz composer, pianist and educator. Early life Iles was born in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, on 16 May 1963. She started her musical education at primary school, where she learnt to ...

Stan Sulzmann Stanley Ernest Sulzmann (born 30 November 1948) is an English jazz saxophonist. Biography He was born in London, England. Sulzmann began playing the saxophone at age of 13 and played in 1964 Bill Ashton's London Youth Jazz Orchestra, later ...

Ray Bryant Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Early life Bryant was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on December 24, 1931. His mother was an ordained minister who had tau ...

, Enrico Pieranunzi and Patrick Villanueva.Carr, Ian; Fairweather, Digby; Priestley, Brian (2004). ''The Rough Guide to Jazz''. Rough Guides. pp
517518
. Retrieved 13 April 2021. May also lectured and taught extensively; her employers included Trinity College of Music, Leeds College of Music,

Birmingham Conservatoire The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is a music school, drama school and concert venue in Birmingham, England. It provides professional education in music, acting, and related disciplines up to postgraduate level. It is a centre for scholarly res ...

, the Royal Academy of Music, the

Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama , image_name = Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.jpg , image_size = , motto = , established = 1949 , type = Public , staff = , vice_chancellor = , students = 779 (2017/18) , undergrad ...

, and the

University of West London The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and in Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860, when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing C ...

. In addition, she regularly attached workshops and masterclasses to her own tours.

Personal life

In 1989, May married Clark Tracey, with whom she recorded several albums in the 1990s. They later divorced and, at the time of her death, May's partner of roughly two and a half years was saxophonist Simon Spillett.Vacher, Peter (March 29, 2022)
"Tina May: 30/3/1961 – 26/3/2022"
''Jazzwise''. Retrieved March 29, 2022.

Discography

As leader

* ''Never Let Me Go'' (33 Records, 1992) * ''Fun'' (33 Records, 1993) * ''It Ain't Necessarily So'' (33 Records, 1994) * ''Time Will Tell'' (33 Records, 1995) * ''Jazz Piquant'' with Tony Coe (33 Records, 1998) * ''Change of Sky'' with Nikki Iles (33 Records, 1998) * ''One Fine Day'' (33 Records, 1999) * ''Live in Paris'' (33 Records, 2000) * ''The Ella Fitzgerald Songbook Revisted'' with Lee Gibson, Barbara Jay (Spotlite, 2000) * ''I'll Take Romance'' (Linn, 2003) * ''Early May'' (33 Records, 2004) * ''More Than You Know'' with Tony Coe, Nikki Iles (33 Records, 2004) * ''A Wing and a Prayer'' (33 Records, 2006) * ''Sings the Ray Bryant Songbook'' (33 Records, 2006) * ''Out of the Blue'' with Ray Guntrip (rayguntripmusic.com, 2008) * ''I Never Told You'' (33 Records, 2009) * ''Tina May Sings Piaf'' (33 Records, 2011) * ''Where You Belong'' with Ray Guntrip (rayguntripmusic.com, 2011) * ''No More Hanky Panky'' (33 Records, 2011) * ''Troubadours'' with Dylan Fowler (33 Records, 2013) * ''Divas'' (Hep, 2013) * ''My Kinda Love'' (Hep, 2014) * ''Home Is Where the Heart Is'' with Enrico Pieranunzi (33 Records, 2015) * ''Musica Paradiso: Songs and Stories from the Silver Screen'' with Guillermo Rozenthuler (2016) * ''Telling Jokes'' with Steve Plews (ASC, 2016) * ''Cafe Paranoia: Tina May Sings Mark Murphy'' with Andy Lutter (33 Records, 2017) * ''52nd Street: Tina May Sings the Songs of

Duncan Lamont Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor.Brian McFarlane (Ed): ''The Encyclopedia of British Film'' (BFI/Methuen • London • 2000) p397''Picture Show Who's Who on the Screen'' (Amalgamated Pre ...

'' (33 Records, 2021)

As guest

* 1994 ''Transatlantic Airs'' with

Michael Hashim Michael James Hashim (April 9, 1956, Geneva, New York) is an American jazz alto and soprano saxophonist. Hashim began playing saxophone while in elementary school, playing with Phil Flanigan and Chris Flory as a high schooler. He worked with ...

(33 Jazz) * 2000 ''Ellington's Sacred Music'' with

Stan Tracey Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album '' Jazz Suite Inspi ...

Jazz Orchestra & the Durham Cathedral Choir (33 Jazz) * 2007 ''Cornucopia 2'' with

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

(Caligraph) * 2011 ''I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue: Humph Celebration Concert'' (

AudioGO AudioGO (formerly BBC Audiobooks) was a publisher of audiobooks and a range of spoken word and large-print titles. It was majority owned by AudioGO Ltd, and minority owned by BBC Worldwide. It was formed in 2010, when AudioGO purchased a majori ...

)"I'm Sorry, I Haven't a Clue: Humph Celebration Concert"
WorldCat.

References

External links

Tina May's Web site
* *
My Life in Music - Tina May

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

1961 births 2022 deaths 20th-century English women singers 20th-century English singers 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers British lyricists British women jazz singers British music educators Women music educators Voice teachers English jazz singers English stage actresses English sopranos People from Gloucester People educated at Stroud High School Alumni of Cardiff University Musicians from Gloucestershire {{UK-singer-stub