Joan Shaw

Born in Newport News, Virginia, in 1930, home town of Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey, Joan Elizabeth Shaw would -- over the course of a 60-plus-year career -- become one of the leading vocalists of swing music, performing in a number of countries in Europe and Asia and recording a number of albums.

Jones got her first break when she was 13 at the famed Apollo Theater in New York, winning an amateur talent contest that resulted in a record deal. In December 1947 she made her recording debut as a featured jazz vocalist, singing 'Rain in My Eyes' with the Buddy Tate Orchestra. She spent the early part of her career touring and performing with such leading lights as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington. From 1949 on she toured and recorded with different groups during the R&B era and the rise of rock ‘n roll. In 1956 she tried the pop route, recording with strings and...

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Joan Shaw Albums

2 records