Barbara Lea (April 10, 1929 – December 26, 2011) was an American jazz singer.
Music career
Lea was born and raised in Detroit. Her father was a clarinetist before becoming attorney general of Michigan. He changed the family name from LeCocq to Leacock, which she changed to Lea when beginning her singing career. She decided at an early age to become a singer, participating in contests and singing with dance bands. She attended
Wellesley College
Wellesley College is a private women's liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henry and Pauline Durant as a female seminary, it is a member of the original Seven Sisters Colleges, an unofficial ...
near Boston and studied music theory. She worked at the Storyville club when singer
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
Biography
Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, singing on New York ...
performed there in the early 1950s. Her debut solo album, ''Woman in Love'', was released in 1955.
She became an actress during the 1960s, then moved to California in the 1970s and received a degree in drama from
California State University, Northridge
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...
.
In the 1970s, Lea was invited to the National Public Radio series ''American Popular Song with Alec Wilder and Friends''. In 1976, she appeared in two shows, one featuring the songs of
Willard Robison
Willard Robison (September 18, 1894 – June 24, 1968) was an American vocalist, pianist, and composer of popular songs, born in Shelbina, Missouri. His songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in Americana and their warm style has ...
and one featuring songs performed and recorded by
Lee Wiley
Lee Wiley (October 9, 1908 – December 11, 1975) was an American jazz singer during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
Biography
Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. At fifteen, she left home to pursue a singing career, singing on New York ...
.
Lea appeared in the JVC, Kool, and
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hir ...
s several times, but her increasing devotion to the songs as written led to concerts of the works of
Rodgers and Hart
Rodgers and Hart were an American songwriting partnership between composer Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) and the lyricist Lorenz Hart (1895–1943). They worked together on 28 stage musicals and more than 500 songs from 1919 until Hart' ...
,
Arthur Schwartz
Arthur Schwartz (November 25, 1900 – September 3, 1984) was an American composer and film producer, widely noted for his songwriting collaborations with Howard Dietz.
Biography
Early life
Schwartz was born in Brooklyn, New York City, on Nov ...
,
Cy Coleman
Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman; June 14, 1929 – November 18, 2004) was an American composer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Coleman was born Seymour Kaufman in New York City, United States, to Eastern European Jewish parents ...
,
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
,
Hoagy Carmichael
Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...
, and the Gershwins, as well as cabaret appearances devoted to
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
,
Jerome Kern
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove ...
,
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallic ...
, and
Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg; April 8, 1896 – March 5, 1981) was an American popular song lyricist and librettist who worked with many well-known composers. He wrote the lyrics to the standards "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" ( ...
.
She died in 2011 from complications of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...
.
Discography
* ''A Woman in Love'' ( Riverside, 1955)
* ''Barbara Lea'' with the
Johnny Windhurst
John Henry Windhurst (November 5, 1926 – October 2, 1981) was an American jazz trumpet player, who played primarily in the swing, big-band, and dixieland styles. Windhurst was a self-taught musician and known for his solos; he considered Bix B ...
Quintets (
Prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnet ...
, 1956)
* ''Lea in Love'' (Prestige, 1956)
* ''This Could Lead to Love'' with
Mundell Lowe
James Mundell Lowe (April 21, 1922 – December 2, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who worked often in radio, television, and film, and as a session musician.
He produced film and TV scores in the 1970s, such as the '' Billy Jack'' soundtra ...
(Riverside, 1957)
* ''The Devil Is Afraid of Music'' (
Audiophile
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...
, 1977)
* ''Remembering Remembering Lee Wiley'' (Audiophile, 1978)
* ''Do It Again'' (Audiophile, 1983)
* ''Hoagy's Children'' with
Bob Dorough
Robert Lrod Dorough (December 12, 1923 – April 23, 2018) was an American bebop and cool jazz vocalist, pianist, composer, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Dorough became famous as the composer and performer of songs in the TV series ''School ...
, Dick Sudhalter (Audiophile, 1983)
* ''You're the Cats!'' with the Lawson-Haggart Band (Audiophile, 1989)
* ''Getting Some Fun Out of Life with Mr. Tram Associates'' with Daryl Sherman, Dick Sudhalter,
Loren Schoenberg
Loren Schoenberg (born July 23, 1958) is a tenor saxophonist, conductor, educator, and jazz historian. He has won two Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes. He is the former Executive Director and currently Senior Scholar of the National Jazz Museum ...
(Audiophile, 1989)
* ''Sweet and Low'' with the Lawson-Haggart Band (Audiophile, 1990)
* ''Songs from the Original Broadway Production of Pousse-Cafe'' with
Ellis Larkins
Ellis Larkins (May 15, 1923 – September 30, 2002) was an American jazz pianist born in Baltimore, Maryland, known for his two recordings with Ella Fitzgerald: the albums '' Ella Sings Gershwin'' (1950) and ''Songs in a Mellow Mood'' (1954). He ...
(Audiophile, 1992)
* ''At the Atlanta Jazz Party'' with
Ed Polcer
Ed Polcer (born February 10, 1937 in Paterson, New Jersey, United States) is an American jazz cornetist, bandleader, festival director, club owner, and mentor of young musicians. He has been described as a "melodic mellow-toned cornetist with an ...
Keith Ingham
Keith Christopher Ingham (born 5 February 1942) is an English jazz pianist, mainly active in swing and Dixieland revival.
Early life and education
Ingham was born in London on 5 February 1942. His father played the organ in churches. Ingham was ...
(Challenge, 1996)
* ''Are Mad About the Boy: The Songs of Noel Coward'' with Keith Ingham (Challenge, 2000)
* ''The Melody Lingers On'' (2002)
* ''Celebrate Vincent Youmans'' with Keith Ingham (Challenge, 2004)
* ''Our Love Rolls On'' (2004)
* ''Deep in a Dream'' (2005)
* ''Black Butterfly'' (2006)
* ''Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans'' (Audiophile, 2007)
As guest
*
Benny Carter
Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...