Judi Donaghy (born October 14, 1960) is an American vocalist, producer and songwriter from the Twin Cities, as well as a music educator at the former McNally Smith College of Music, as well as a popular jazz performer. She is noted for her work with The Girls, the Wolverines Big Band and most notably as a member of Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra.
Donaghy was born in Erlanger, Kentucky, and began her career as a folk singer. Upon hearing the Wolverines Big Band, she began to include jazz in her focus. She obtained her BM in Vocal Performance from the University of Nebraska and her masters in music education at the University of Minnesota. She was an instructor and department head at McNally Smith College of Music starting in 1994.
Her vocal group, The Girls, consists of Lori Dokken, Patty Peterson, Erin Schwab. Among the years, she has also worked with Yo Yo Ma, Carole King, Janis Siegel (of Manhattan Transfer fame), Debbie Duncan, Rhiannon, Julee Cruise, Garrison Keillor and Marilyn McCoo. She recently completed her 4th European tour with Voicestra.
She has received acclaim from JAZZIZ Magazine for her songwriting, and from the Schubert Club, becoming the first non-classical performer to represent them. She has sung on more than 30 CDs to date, has performed as an on-air talent, and her original work has been covered by several local artists. She is the choral director at the Unity Christ Church in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and has given vocal master classes and clinics with Bobby McFerrin at the Omega Institute and the Stimmen Voice Festival in Basel, Switzerland.
She has performed at various venues, including Carnegie Hall, Orchestra Hall (Minneapolis), Northrop Opera and the Mixed Blood Theatre. She performs frequently at the Dakota Jazz Club, Times Bar & Café, and The Townhouse.
Swing music is a form of jazz that developed in the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. The name came from the emphasis on the off–beat, or weaker pulse. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable swing style of big bands and bandleaders such as Benny Goodman was the dominant form of American popular music from 1935 to 1946, known as the swing era. The verb "to swing" is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Notable musicians of the swing era include Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong(Dixieland jazz), Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw.
The 28th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985.
Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. is an American jazz vocalist. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rapidly alternating with arpeggios and harmonies—as well as scat singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and improvisational vocal percussion. He is widely known for performing and recording regularly as an unaccompanied solo vocal artist. He has frequently collaborated with other artists from both the jazz and classical scenes.
The 31st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 22, 1989, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
The 29th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1987, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, California. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
The 30th Annual Grammy Awards were held March 2, 1988, at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, better known as Keely Smith, was an iconic American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo artist.
Julee A. Cruise is an American singer, songwriter, actress and musician, best known for her collaborations with composer Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She has released four albums and collaborated with a variety of other artists. She is known for her song "Falling", the theme song for the television series Twin Peaks. She is married to author and editor Edward Grinnan.
Shannon Maureen McNally is an American singer and songwriter.
Urszula Bogumiła Dudziak-Urbaniak is a Polish jazz vocalist. She has worked with Krzysztof Komeda, Michał Urbaniak, Gil Evans, Archie Shepp, and Lester Bowie. In 2007, her 1970s song "Papaya" gained widespread popularity in Asia and Latin America.
Marlon Saunders is an American singer, songwriter and record producer.
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonies were televised in the US on CBS; however, as has become the custom, most of the awards were handed out during a pre-telecast portion of the show held at the Los Angeles Convention Center and broadcast on XM Satellite Radio. Two nights prior to the show Aretha Franklin was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year.
Leslie Ann Jones is a multiple Grammy Award-winning recording engineer working as Director of Music Recording and Scoring at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm, Ltd. company. She is a past Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Board of Trustees, the organization that awards Grammys, and in 2018 was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame. She is the daughter of novelty drummer, percussionist and bandleader Spike Jones and his wife, singer Helen Grayco.
Linda "Tui" Tillery is an American singer, percussionist, producer, songwriter, and music arranger. She began her professional singing career at age 19 with the Bay Area rock band The Loading Zone. She is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her second solo album titled Linda Tillery released on Olivia Records in 1977. In addition to performing, she was the producer on three of Olivia's first eight albums. Within the women's music genre, she has collaborated with June Millington, Deidre McCalla, Barbara Higbie, Holly Near, Margie Adam, and others. Tillery was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Musical Album for Children.
David Owen Mackay was an American jazz pianist, singer-composer with roots in the works of Art Tatum, Bud Powell, and Bill Evans, who favored the standards of the 1940s and 1950s and the bossa novas of Luíz Eça, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and João Gilberto when performing.
Cheryl Bentyne is a jazz singer who spent much of her career with The Manhattan Transfer.
Janis Siegel is an American jazz singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.
Nino Katamadze is a Georgian jazz singer and artist.
Sheila Catherine Landis is an American jazz, R&B vocalist and songwriter.
Live Foyn Friis is a Norwegian singer, lyricist and composer, with roots in jazz, pop and improvised music.
