She is a singer and arranger born in Brooklyn, New York. She began studying music while still young and she was singing with The Young Generation by the time she was twelve. With them, she would release two singles by the time she had finished high school. The band changed its name to Laurel Canyon and as well as continuing to perform with them she also attended college to study nursing.
She met Tim Hauser through a chance meeting and after singing him some demos she was invited to join the quartet he was forming called The Manhattan Transfer. They established themselves in 1972 and she has remained with them since that time. Being acclaimed for the lead vocals in hit songs such as “Chanson d’Amour”, “Boy from New York City” and “Operator”, she has also gained recognition as an arranger, winning a Grammy Award for her arrangement of “Birdland”. She and the other members of The Manhattan Transfer received an honorary doctorate from the Berkelee School of Music in 1993 and were inducted into the Vocal Hall of Fame in 1999.
Her solo career was begun in 1982 and since then she has released several solo albums, including the Grammy nominated At Home, and was named the Best Female Jazz Singer in the New York Music Awards in 1989. She has collaborated with many artists including the jazz pianist Fred Hersch, the Beaux Arts String Quartet, the violinist Nadja Solerno-Sonnenberg, the Concordia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Jazz Ensemble, the Turkish composer Ilhan Mimaroglu and has duetted with Natalie Cole in the song “Two for the Blues”.
Appearing on many albums her recordings include her own Experiment in White, Friday Night Special, I Wish You Love, Sketches of Broadway, Slow Hot White and A Thousand Beautiful Things as well as Freddie Freeloader by Jon Hendricks & Friends, Got Swing! by Erich Kunzel & The Cincinatti Pops Orchestra, Bodies and Souls, Bop Doo-Wopp, Brasil, Coming Out, Extensions, Mecca for Moderns, Offbeat of Avenues, Pastiche, Spirit of St. Louis, Tender Trap, Vibrate and Vocalese by The Manhattan Transfer and Spontaneoius Inventions by Bobby McFerrin and the soundtracks of Hudson Hawk, A League of Their Own and Swing Kids.
In the movies she has featured on soundtracks including Swing Kids, A League of Their Own and Dick Tracy, and has appeared as an actress in Harry & Son and Mary’s Incredible Dream.
The Manhattan Transfer Recordings
Body and Soul (Edward Heyman/Johnny Green/Robert Sour/Frank Eyton)
Twilight Zone/Twilight Tone (Marius Constant/Jay Graydon/Alan Paul)
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