Toni Harper

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Toni Harper (married Toni Harper-Dunlap , born June 8, 1937 in Los Angeles ) is an American jazz and pop singer.

biography

After Harper had dance lessons with Maceo Anderson , she was a child in the company of choreographer Nick Castle in Christmas Follies , which was staged in 1945 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles. During this time she also performed with Herb Jeffries and Cab Calloway . In 1946 she recorded the song Candy Store Blues for Columbia, which hit the R&B charts in 1948 and was awarded the platinum record . In 1949 she worked in the musical film Make Believe Ballroom and appeared in Toast of the Town (the precursor to the Ed Sullivan Show ), the last time in 1950. After her success as a child star, she took in January 1952 with the Harry James Orchestra on a 78 for Columbia ( Blacksmith Blues / Don't Send Me Home ); in December 1955 her debut album Toni - Toni Harper Sings for Verve was created, on which she was accompanied by the Oscar Peterson Trio with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown . Their song material consisted of jazz standards such as You Don't Know What Love Is, Love for Sale , Singin 'in the Rain or Gone with the Wind . Norman Granz organized another recording session with Buddy Bregman's orchestra in 1956 ; however, there was not enough material for a full album.

She then recorded two more albums for RCA Victor , Lady Lonely (1959) and Night Mood (1962) in the easy-listening style with the Marty Paich Orchestra, the latter with Bud Shank and Art Pepper as soloists. In 1963 she toured Japan with Cannonball Adderley and appeared in the film How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). In 1965 she played the pop single As Time Goes By / Never Trust a Stranger , which was released by GNP Crescendo . Since her success waned during the boom in pop and rock music , she retired from the music business in 1966 at the age of 29, occupied herself with yoga and Buddhism and worked as a visual artist.

According to Marc Myers, Harper is stylistically reminiscent of Sarah Vaughan .

swell

  1. ↑ Columbia Records 39500 Series at 78discography.com
  2. ^ Verve discography 1955 at Jazzdisco.org
  3. ↑ a b Feature by Marc Myers: Oscar Peterson and Toni Harper in Jazzwax (2010)
  4. ↑ Review of the album Night Mood at Allmusic (English). Retrieved December 2, 2010.
  5. ↑ Sheridan, Chris. (2000). Dis Here: A Bio-discography of Julian "Cannonball" Adderley . Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-313-30240-4 . Google Book Search
  6. ^ Billboard announcement February 13, 1965, p. 56

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personal data
SURNAME Harper, Toni
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Harper-Dunlap, Toni (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles