Joya Sherrill
Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924 – June 28, 2010) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host.
Sherrill was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on August 20, 1924.[1] Her first ambition was to become a writer:[1] she was the editor of her school paper.[2] She had a sister, Alice.[1]
Sherrill began her career with Duke Ellington in 1942 when she was seventeen.[1] Ellington considered her one of his favorite singers.[3] After the 1940s, Sherrill performed with Ray Nance and Rex Stewart, both former sideman for Ellington.[3] She married Richard Guilmenot in the mid-1940s.[1] She worked with Ellington again on the television broadcast A Drum Is a Woman (1957), and toured the USSR with Benny Goodman in 1962.[1]
From 1970 Sherrill had a children's television show, Time for Joya, later called Joya's Fun School.[1] This was recorded for a few years, but was rerun until 1982.[1] In the mid-1970s she accompanied her husband when he went to Iran for his work.[2] There, she had her own television program, which was broadcast live.[2] She returned to singing in New York near the end of that decade.[2] Her husband died in 1989;[1] they had a son and a daughter.[2] Sherrill died from leukemia at home in Great Neck, New York on June 28, 2010.[3]
Discography
As leader
- Sugar and Spice with Luther Henderson (Columbia, 1962)
- Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (20th Century Fox, 1965)
As guest
- Sammy Davis Jr., Sammy Jumps with Joya (Design, 1957)
- Duke Ellington, My People (Contact, 1962)
- Duke Ellington, Duke Ellington's Greatest (RCA Victor, 1954)
References
- Keepnews, Peter (July 8, 2010). "Joya Sherrill, Who Sang With Ellington and Goodman, Is Dead at 85". The New York Times. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
- Wilson, John S. (May 25, 1979). "A Blues Singer Looks Back". The New York Times. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
- Phares, Heather. "Joya Sherrill". AllMusic. Retrieved 3 May 2017.