Greatest Voices in Jazz
by janusminoa | created - 19 Nov 2019 | updated - 22 Mar 2022 | Public
1. Billie Holiday
Soundtrack | Minority Report
Billie Holiday was a true artist of her day and rose as a social phenomenon in the 1950s. Her soulful, unique singing voice and her ability to boldly turn any material that she confronted into her own music made her a superstar of her time. Today, Holiday is remembered for her masterpieces, ...
2. Carmen McRae
Soundtrack | Real Genius
Carmen McRae was born on April 8, 1920 in Harlem, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Real Genius (1985), Hotel (1967) and Excess Baggage (1997). She was married to Ike Isaacs and Kenny Clarke. She died on November 10, 1994 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
3. Catherine Russell
Soundtrack | Kill Your Darlings
Catherine Russell is known for Kill Your Darlings (2013), Basket Case (1982) and Bolden (2019).
4. Cecile McLorin Salvant
Director | Ella Fitzgerald: Taking A Chance on Love (Live)
Cecile McLorin Salvant is known for Ella Fitzgerald: Taking A Chance on Love (Live) (2020), When the Bough Breaks (2016) and Sylvie's Love (2020).
5. Diana Krall
Soundtrack | Public Enemies
Diana Jean Krall was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada, to Adella A. (Wende), an elementary school teacher, and Stephen James Krall, an accountant. She has Czech, German, English, and Scottish ancestry. Krall was raised in Nanaimo, a small community on Vancouver Island, where she began ...
6. Dinah Washington
Soundtrack | Shutter Island
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the former Ruth Lee Jones moved with her family to Chicago as a young girl. She considered the Windy City her true home. And it was there in early 1940s that a local nightclub owner provided her first gig - and a new name that she would make famous. By 1959 she had ...
7. Ella Fitzgerald
Soundtrack | Sphere
On Saturday, June 15th, 1996, an era in jazz singing came to an end, with the death of Ella Fitzgerald at her home in California. She was the last of four great female jazz singers (including Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and Carmen McRae) who defined one of the most prolific eras in jazz vocal ...
8. Frank Sinatra
Actor | From Here to Eternity
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...
9. Harry Connick Jr.
Actor | Hope Floats
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr. was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the son of Anita Frances (Levy), a lawyer and judge, and Harry Connick, Sr. (Joseph Harry Fowler Connick), who served as District Attorney of New Orleans from 1973 to 2003. His father is of Irish, English, and German ...
10. Helen Forrest
Soundtrack | The Rocketeer
Brunette Helen Forrest was born Helen Fogel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She loved singing from early childhood and keenly listened to recordings by all the major female jazz and blues vocalists of the day. At the age of ten, Helen competed in a dance marathon and sang with her brother's band in ...
11. Jamie Cullum
Soundtrack | Gran Torino
Jamie Cullum was born on August 20, 1979 in Rochford, Essex, England, UK. He is a music artist and actor, known for Gran Torino (2008), Meet the Robinsons (2007) and Going in Style (2017). He has been married to Sophie Dahl since January 9, 2010. They have two children.
12. June Christy
Soundtrack | Take the Lead
She was Stan Kenton's big band singer, replacing Anita O'Day in 1945. She also worked with Bruce Boyd Raeburn and his orchestra before she joined the Kenton band. This blonde, blue-eyed singer is one of the most talented female singers in the history of jazz. She recorded many albums for Capitol ...
13. Lee Wiley
Soundtrack | L.A. Confidential
One of the great jazz vocalists of all time, Lee Wiley was possessed of a wonderful warm, sensuous and somewhat smoky voice and was able to project more emotion into her songs than most of her contemporaries. She rose to fame at a young age in the 1930's, singing with the bands of Leo Reisman (at ...
14. Madeleine Peyroux
Soundtrack | From Paris with Love
Madeleine Peyroux was born on January 1, 1973 in Athens, Georgia, USA. She is an actress, known for From Paris with Love (2010), Definitely, Maybe (2008) and Failure to Launch (2006).
15. Melody Gardot
Soundtrack | 360
Melody Gardot was born on February 2, 1985 in New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for 360 (2011), The Line (2009) and The Starling (2021).
16. Michael Bublé
Soundtrack | Spider-Man 2
Multi-platinum artist Michael Bublé grew up near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He was introduced to swing music and old standards by his grandfather, who offered his services for free as a professional plumber to musicians who were willing to let Michael sing a couple of songs with them on ...
17. Nancy Wilson
Soundtrack | The Last Dinosaur
Jazz singer Nancy Wilson, a three-time Grammy Award-winner, was born on February 20, 1937 in Chillicothe, Ohio to iron-worker Olden Wilson and the former Lillian Ryan, who worked as a domestic servant. Nancy was the first of six children. Her father's love of music and the records he played at home...
18. Nat 'King' Cole
Soundtrack | The Nat King Cole Show
Nat King Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles (he later dropped the "s" in his surname) in Montgomery, Alabama. He received music lessons from his mother and his family moved to Chicago when he was only five, where his father, Edward James Coles, was a minister at the True Light Baptist Church and ...
19. Nina Simone
Soundtrack | Point of No Return
Nina Simone was born on February 21, 1933 in Tryon, North Carolina, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for Point of No Return (1993), Repo Men (2010) and Miami Vice (2006). She was married to Andrew Stroud and Donald Ross. She died on April 21, 2003 in Carry-le-Rouet, Bouches-du-Rhône, ...
20. Peggy Lee
Actress | Lady and the Tramp
Peggy Lee was Born Norma Dolores Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, on May 26, 1920. At age four her mother died. Peggy's father, a railroad station agent, remarried but later left home, leaving Peggy's care entrusted to a stepmother who physically abused her. Peggy later memorialized this in the ...
21. Sarah Vaughan
Soundtrack | The Adjustment Bureau
Sarah Vaughan was born March 27, 1924 in Newark, NJ, and died April 3, 1990, in Los Angeles of lung cancer. Her parents were Asbury, a carpenter, and Ada, a laundress. She began studying music when she was seven, taking eight years of piano lessons and two years of organ. As a child she sang in the...
22. Stacey Kent
Soundtrack | Prime
Stacey Kent was born on March 27, 1968 in South Orange, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress, known for Prime (2005), Richard III (1995) and Scene Stealers (2004). She has been married to Jim Tomlinson since August 9, 1991.
23. Lena Horne
Soundtrack | Cabin in the Sky
Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...
24. Julie London
Actress | Emergency!
Julie London recorded 32 albums during her career. Forced to give up band singing when her true age was discovered, she was primarily a torch singer. Her vocal range was described by "sultry" and "low-keyed". Her own favorite singers were Barbra Streisand and Roberta Flack.
She was known in some ...
25. Mel Tormé
Soundtrack | Gangster Squad
A professional singer at the age of three, Mel Torme was a genuine musical prodigy. As a teenager, he played the drums in Chico Marx's band and earned the nickname "The Velvet Fog" because of his smooth, mellow tenor voice. In the 1940s, he formed his own group, the Mel-Tones, one of the first ...
26. Anita O'Day
Soundtrack | Shortbus
Anita O'Day was born on October 18, 1919 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Shortbus (2006), Zig Zag (1970) and The Gene Krupa Story (1959). She was married to Carl Hoff and Don Carter. She died on November 23, 2006 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
27. Doris Day
Soundtrack | Love Me or Leave Me
One of America's most loved actresses was born Doris Mary Kappelhoff on April 3, 1922, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Alma Sophia (Welz), a housewife, and William Joseph Kappelhoff, a music teacher and choir master. Her grandparents were all German immigrants. She had two brothers, Richard, who died ...
Tell Your Friends