Janet Thurlow | |
---|---|
Born | 21 May 1926
Seattle |
Died | 4 October 2022
(aged 96) Lynwood |
Occupation | Jazz singer |
Spouse(s) | Jimmy Cleveland |
Musical career | |
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 1949–1967, 1983–2008 |
Formerly of |
|
Janet Lorraine Thurlow (May 21, 1926 – October 4, 2022) was an American jazz singer.
Thurlow was born on May 21, 1926, in Seattle – the first of five children. She took violin, piano, and singing lessons as a teenager. [1] As a child, she sang on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour hosted by Major Edward Bowes. [2] She attended Broadway High School in Seattle, but had to drop out after ninth grade to care for her siblings after her parents' divorce. A few years later, Thurlow moved into her own apartment after her mother's death, befriended a young Ray Charles, and began cultivating an appreciation of jazz as well as jazz singing. [2]
In 1949, she began as a "song stylist" with Robert "Bumps" Blackwell's Seattle-based band, [3] which at that time had a 16-year old Quincy Jones as arranger and trumpet player and Ray Charles, then known as "R.C.", playing piano and alto sax. [4]
In 1950, Lionel Hampton hired her to play with his band. [1] Thurlow convinced Hampton to hire her friend Quincy Jones as a trumpeter. [5] In the April 1951, Thurlow recorded the song "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" with Hampton's orchestra for Decca Records. [6] Mike Barnes wrote that this recording made "her perhaps the first white singer to front an all-Black big band." [1] In August 1951, Thurlow performed with Hampton's orchestra at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. [7] At the end of that month, they performed at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle that featured Jones and Thurlow as "Two Seattleites". [1] [3]
That same year, Thurlow met trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, a fellow band member with Hampton's orchestra. [8] They married on April 2, 1953 in Chicago. [9]
In November 1952, Thurlow converted to the Jehovah's Witnesses. [10]
By April 1953, Thurlow had left Hampton's orchestra and was performing solo in Chicago. [11]
On October 28, 1953, she was the vocalist on "Eclipse," a song about interracial romance written by Charles Mingus, and recorded with his octet. [12]
Thurlow during this time began to volunteer as a violinist at Jehovah's Witnesses' regional conventions at New York's Yankee Stadium, Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, and Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium. [10]
Thurlow and her husband moved in 1967 from New York to Lynwood, California. [1] Thurlow began teaching vocal music [2] but did not begin to perform jazz again until 1983, [2] when she began occasional performing and recording with Cleveland [8] until her husband's death in 2008. [1] [2]
Thurlow died of heart failure, aged 96, at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood in 2022. [1] She was buried beside her husband at Riverside National Cemetery. [13]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Janet Thurlow | |
---|---|
Born | 21 May 1926
Seattle |
Died | 4 October 2022
(aged 96) Lynwood |
Occupation | Jazz singer |
Spouse(s) | Jimmy Cleveland |
Musical career | |
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 1949–1967, 1983–2008 |
Formerly of |
|
Janet Lorraine Thurlow (May 21, 1926 – October 4, 2022) was an American jazz singer.
Thurlow was born on May 21, 1926, in Seattle – the first of five children. She took violin, piano, and singing lessons as a teenager. [1] As a child, she sang on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour hosted by Major Edward Bowes. [2] She attended Broadway High School in Seattle, but had to drop out after ninth grade to care for her siblings after her parents' divorce. A few years later, Thurlow moved into her own apartment after her mother's death, befriended a young Ray Charles, and began cultivating an appreciation of jazz as well as jazz singing. [2]
In 1949, she began as a "song stylist" with Robert "Bumps" Blackwell's Seattle-based band, [3] which at that time had a 16-year old Quincy Jones as arranger and trumpet player and Ray Charles, then known as "R.C.", playing piano and alto sax. [4]
In 1950, Lionel Hampton hired her to play with his band. [1] Thurlow convinced Hampton to hire her friend Quincy Jones as a trumpeter. [5] In the April 1951, Thurlow recorded the song "I Can't Believe You're in Love with Me" with Hampton's orchestra for Decca Records. [6] Mike Barnes wrote that this recording made "her perhaps the first white singer to front an all-Black big band." [1] In August 1951, Thurlow performed with Hampton's orchestra at the Paramount Theater in Hollywood. [7] At the end of that month, they performed at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle that featured Jones and Thurlow as "Two Seattleites". [1] [3]
That same year, Thurlow met trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, a fellow band member with Hampton's orchestra. [8] They married on April 2, 1953 in Chicago. [9]
In November 1952, Thurlow converted to the Jehovah's Witnesses. [10]
By April 1953, Thurlow had left Hampton's orchestra and was performing solo in Chicago. [11]
On October 28, 1953, she was the vocalist on "Eclipse," a song about interracial romance written by Charles Mingus, and recorded with his octet. [12]
Thurlow during this time began to volunteer as a violinist at Jehovah's Witnesses' regional conventions at New York's Yankee Stadium, Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium, and Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium. [10]
Thurlow and her husband moved in 1967 from New York to Lynwood, California. [1] Thurlow began teaching vocal music [2] but did not begin to perform jazz again until 1983, [2] when she began occasional performing and recording with Cleveland [8] until her husband's death in 2008. [1] [2]
Thurlow died of heart failure, aged 96, at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood in 2022. [1] She was buried beside her husband at Riverside National Cemetery. [13]
{{
cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)