Ann Richards (singer)

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Ann Richards (born October 1, 1935 in San Diego as Margaret Ann Borden , † April 1, 1982 in Hollywood ) was an American jazz singer .

Live and act

Richards received ten years singing lessons and learned self-taught piano; from 1954 she had her first appearances in the San Francisco Bay Area with musicians from the West Coast jazz scene . After brief guest appearances in the bands of Charlie Barnet and George Redman in Hollywood, she was introduced to Stan Kenton by the songwriter Eddie Beal , whose orchestra she was a member of for a few months in 1955 until the nineteen-year-old Richards became Kenton's wife in October. Richards can also be heard on some of the orchestra's recordings, such as in the singles Casanova or Winter in Madrid . Just before they beat off the down-Leserpoll was honored as best band singer , she gave up her stage career but continued to record. For the album Kenton with Voices (1957) she was brought in to contrast the voices of the Modern Men on three tracks . In Softly she was exposed.

Kenton brokered a recording contract with Capitol Records , where in 1958, under the musical direction of Brian Farnon and arrangements by Warren Baker, her debut album I'm Shooting High was recorded with standards material such as Matt Dennis ' Will You Still Be Mine . Richards' next album, The Many Moods of Ann Richards (1959), offered a stylistic range from cool jazz with arrangements by Bill Holman to Far Eastern exotic music by Tak Shindo. In 1961, the album Two Much was created with Stan Kenton .

The marriage to Kenton had two children, Dana and Lance. In June 1961 she caused a scandal when she posed for Playboy . That was one of the reasons for the split that led to the divorce in 1962. She then signed a recording contract with Atco Records . The cover of their album Ann, Man! came from the Playboy recording session. In 1963 another album with the Bill Marx Trio was created for Vee-Jay . In the 1960s she continued to perform in Los Angeles nightclubs, but her further career was aimless and she was gradually forgotten. Richards committed suicide in Hollywood on April 1, 1982 ; she died of a gunshot wound.

Appreciation

According to Scott Yanow , Ann Richards was an "excellent singer"; he regrets that the often underrated singer has not been able to achieve her full potential in her short career. For Leonard Feather , she was the Elizabeth Taylor of the hip set . According to Kenton biographer Michael Sparke, Ann Richards is basically a pop singer with jazz influences, but who never managed to build on the successes of her Kenton predecessors Anita O'Day , Chris Connor and June Christy . What is impressive, however, is the crystal clarity of the voice of its early days, while it would sound affected and shrill in later recordings.

Discographic notes

Albums under your own name
Albums with the Stan Kenton Orchestra
  • With Voices (Capitol, 1957)
  • The Romantic Approach (Capitol, 1961)

Lexical entry

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ann Richards at Allmusic (English)
  2. ↑ Information about the single at Discogs
  3. ↑ See Bielefeld catalog 1985.
  4. ↑ Feather / Gitler, p. 555 f.
  5. ↑ See Michael Sparke: Stan Kenton - This is an orchestra! , P. 143f. as well as a discussion of Kenton with Voices (Allmusic, English) at Allmusic (English)
  6. ^ Review of the album The Many Moods of Ann Richards by Jason Ankeny on Allmusic . Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  7. ↑ Grudens, Richard. Jukebox Saturday Night: More Memories of the Big Band and Beyond . 58. Celebrity Profiles Publishing, 1999.
  8. ↑ Michael Sparke: Stan Kenton - This is an orchestra! , Pp. 127, 208
  9. ↑ Information on Vee Jay Records at bsnpubs.com
  10. ↑ Ben Glenn: Songbirds: Ann Richards ( Memento June 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Review of the album Ann, Man! by Scott Yanow at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 5, 2011.
  12. ↑ Michael Sparke: Stan Kenton - This is an orchestra! , P. 127
personal data
SURNAME Richards, Ann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Borden, Margaret Ann (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz singer
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH San Diego
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1982
Place of death Hollywood , Los Angeles