See also Biography Index (C) :: Filmography Index (C) :: Discography Index (C)

Carmen McRae always had a nice voice (if not on the impossible level of an Ella Fitzgerald or Sarah Vaughan) but it was her behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She studied piano early on and had her first important job singing with Benny Carter`s big band (1944) but it would be another decade before her career really had much momentum. McRae married and divorced Kenny Clarke in the 1940s, worked with Count Basie (briefly) and Mercer Ellington (1946-47), and became the intermission singer and pianist at several New York clubs. In 1954 she began to record as a leader and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style. McRae would record pretty steadily up to 1989 and, although her voice was higher in the 1950s and her phrasing would be even more laidback in later years, her general style and approach did not change much through the decades. Championed in the 1950s by Ralph Gleason, Carmen McRae was fairly popular throughout her career. Among her most interesting recording projects were participating in Dave Brubeck`s the Real Ambassadors with Louis Armstrong, cutting an album of live duets with Betty Carter, being accompanied by Dave Brubeck and George Shearing, and closing her career with brilliant tributes to Thelonious Monk and Sarah Vaughan. Carmen McRae, who refused to quit smoking, was forced to retire in 1991 due to emphysema. She recorded for many labels including Bethlehem, Decca (1954-58), Kapp, Columbia, Mainstream, Focus, Atlantic (1967-70), Black Lion, Groove Merchant, Catalyst, Blue Note, Buddah, Concord and Novus. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
Representative Songs:
"Exactly Like You," "My Funny Valentine," "Trav`lin` Light"

Representative Albums:
The Great American Songbook, Carmen Sings Monk, Sings Lover Man and Other Billie Holiday Classics

Similar Artists:
Carol Sloane, Teddi King, Joya Sherrill, Dinah Washington, Etta Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Carter, Ernestine Anderson, Nancy Wilson, Nina Simone

Influences:
Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday

Followers:
Lois Smith, Meegan Samantha Coleman, Christina Machado, Maroon, Roberta Gambarini, Carla Cook, Karen Shane, Kelley Johnson, Suzanne Pittson, Diana Krall, Joe Lee Wilson, Mary Stallings, Irene Kral, Norma Winstone

Performed Songs By:
Jim Eaton, Sally Swisher, George Lees, Doris Tauber, Brooks Bowman, Carolyn Leigh, Richard Whiting, Maceo Pinkard, Terry Shand, Victor Young, Stevie Wonder, Paul Williams, Paul Weston, Paul Francis Webster, Ned Washington, Harry Warren, James Van Heusen, Jule Styne, Billy Strayhorn, Axel Stordahl, Leo Robin, Don Raye, Ralph Rainger, Cole Porter, Mitchell Parish, Anthony Newley, Thelonious Monk, Johnny Mercer, Burton Lane, Edward Heyman, Arthur Herzog Jr., Jon Hendricks, Ray Henderson, Lorenz Hart, E.Y. "Yip" Harburg, Oscar Hammerstein II, Johnny Green, Adolph Green, Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Fields, Duke Ellington, Ervin Drake, Jimmy Dorsey, Gene DePaul, Hal David, Betty Comden, Nat King Cole, Saul Chaplin, Sammy Cahn, Irving Caesar, Johnny Burke, Lew Brown, Leslie Bricusse, Frank Loesser, Jerome Kern, Vernon Duke, Burt Bacharach, Richard Rodgers, Noël Coward, Harold Arlen, Vincent Youmans, Jimmy McHugh, Irving Mills, Blossom Dearie, Cy Coleman, Leon Russell, Hoagy Carmichael, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin

Worked With:
Cal Tjader, Zoot Sims, Frank Severino, Marshall Otwell, Eric Gunniso