Susannah McCorkle
Encyclopedia
Susannah McCorkle was an American
jazz
singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity.
. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley
. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday
in Paris
in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission
in Brussels
, but moved instead to London
in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation.
In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City
, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village
brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critic
s.
During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records
, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution
which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Hall
s five times and Carnegie Hall
three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson
and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music.
Thanks to her linguistic
skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. She had a special affinity for Bossa Nova and often cited Antonio Carlos Jobim's
"Waters of March
" as her personal favorite. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle
, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage
, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters
, Bessie Smith
, Irving Berlin
and Mae West
.
A survivor of breast cancer
, McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony
of her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play
. Suicide
was ruled the cause of death
.
One year later, in a New York magazine tribute "Jazz Bird" by Gwenda Blair, published May 27, 2002; Blair wrote: "Onstage, singer Susannah McCorkle exuded a sultry self-confidence that won her lifelong fans. But in private, she fought depression so deep -- and so well hidden -- that a year after her suicide, even some in her most intimate circle wonder how they missed the cries for help."
Haunted Heart, a biography of Susannah McCorkle written by Linda Dahl, was published in September 2006 by University of Michigan Press.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer much admired for her direct, unadorned singing style and quiet intensity.
Biography
McCorkle was born in Berkeley, CaliforniaBerkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. She studied modern languages at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
. McCorkle began singing professionally after hearing recordings of Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in the late 1960s. She nearly became an interpreter at the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, but moved instead to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1972 to pursue a career in singing. While in the UK, she made two albums which, although well received, enjoyed only limited circulation.
In the late 1970s, McCorkle returned to the United States and settled in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, where a five-month engagement at the Cookery in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
brought her to wider public attention and elicited rave reviews from critic
Critic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
s.
During the 1980s, McCorkle continued to record; her maturing style and the darkening timbre of her voice greatly enhanced her performances. In the early 1990s, two of the albums McCorkle made for Concord Records
Concord Records
Concord Records is a U.S. record label now based in Beverly Hills, California. Originally known as Concord Jazz, it was established in 1972 as an off-shoot of the Concord Jazz Festival in Concord, California by festival founder Carl Jefferson, a local automobile dealer and jazz fan who sold his...
, No More Blues and Sábia, were enormously successful and made her name known to the wider world. She was recorded by the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
which at the time made her the youngest singer ever to have been included in its popular music series. McCorkle played Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher and Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. It is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assisted in the construction of the hall...
s five times and Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
three times, and was featured soloist with Skitch Henderson
Skitch Henderson
Lyle Russell Cedric “Skitch” Henderson was a pianist, conductor, and composer. His nickname reportedly derived from his ability to quickly "re-sketch" a song in a different key.- Biography :...
and the 80-piece New York Pops in a concert of Brazilian music.
Thanks to her linguistic
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
skills, McCorkle translated lyrics of Brazilian, French, and Italian songs, notably those for her Brazilian album Sabia. She had a special affinity for Bossa Nova and often cited Antonio Carlos Jobim's
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim , also known as Tom Jobim , was a Brazilian songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, and pianist/guitarist. He was a primary force behind the creation of the bossa nova style, and his songs have been performed by many singers and instrumentalists within...
"Waters of March
Waters of March
"Waters of March" is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics. The lyrics, originally written in Portuguese, do not tell a story, but rather present a series of images that form a collage; nearly every line starts with "É..."...
" as her personal favorite. McCorkle also had several short stories published and, in 1991, began work on her first novel. She published fiction in Mademoiselle
Mademoiselle (magazine)
Mademoiselle was an influential women's magazine first published in 1935 by Street and Smith and later acquired by Condé Nast Publications....
, Cosmopolitan Magazine, and non-fiction in the New York Times Magazine and in American Heritage
American Heritage (magazine)
American Heritage is a quarterly magazine dedicated to covering the history of the United States for a mainstream readership. Until 2007, the magazine was published by Forbes. Since that time, Edwin S...
, including lengthy articles on Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
, Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
, Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
and Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
.
A survivor of breast cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, McCorkle suffered for many years from depression and took her own life at age 55 by leaping off the balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
of her 16th-floor apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. She was alone in her home at the time. The police immediately entered her home after identifying her body and found no foul play
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
. Suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
was ruled the cause of death
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
.
One year later, in a New York magazine tribute "Jazz Bird" by Gwenda Blair, published May 27, 2002; Blair wrote: "Onstage, singer Susannah McCorkle exuded a sultry self-confidence that won her lifelong fans. But in private, she fought depression so deep -- and so well hidden -- that a year after her suicide, even some in her most intimate circle wonder how they missed the cries for help."
Haunted Heart, a biography of Susannah McCorkle written by Linda Dahl, was published in September 2006 by University of Michigan Press.
Discography
- The Music of Harry Warren (1976)
- The Songs of Johnny Mercer (1977)
- Over the Rainbow—The Songs of E.Y. Harburg (1980)
- The People that You Never Get to Love (1981)
- How Do You Keep the Music Playing (1985)
- Thanks for the Memory—The Songs of Leo Robin (1983)
- As Time Goes By (1986) - with Jimmy HeathJimmy HeathJames Edward Heath , nicknamed Little Bird, is an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He is the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.-Biography:...
(ts), Ted DunbarTed DunbarTed Dunbar was a jazz guitarist, composer, and educator. He published four volumes on jazz. He trained as a pharmacist at Texas Southern University, but by the 1970s only did pharmacy work part-time. He was also a trained numerologist and had studied other aspects of mysticism...
(g), Billy TaylorBilly TaylorBilly Taylor was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and since 1994, he was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in...
(p), Victor GaskinVictor GaskinRoderick Victor Gaskin, born The Bronx, New York, November 23, 1934 is a jazz bassist.Gaskin moved to Los Angeles in 1962 and started playing with Paul Horn and Red Mitchell before going on to become one of many bass players for the Jazz Crusaders...
(b), Tony ReedusTony ReedusTony Reedus was an American jazz drummer.Reedus first gained notice playing in Woody Shaw's band in the 1980s...
(d) - Dream (1986)
- No More Blues (1988)
- Sábia (1990)
- I'll Take Romance (1992)
- From Bessie to BrazilFrom Bessie to BrazilFrom Bessie To Brazil is a 1993 album by jazz vocalist Susannah McCorkle.# “Love” # “The People That You Never Get To Love” # “Thief in The Night”...
(1993) - From Broadway to Bebop (1994)
- Easy to Love—The Songs of Cole Porter (1996)
- Let's Face the Music—The Songs of Irving Berlin (1997)
- Someone to Watch Over Me—Songs of George Gershwin (1998)
- From Broken Hearts to Blue SkiesFrom Broken Hearts to Blue SkiesFrom Broken Hearts to Blue Skies # “Laughing At Life” - 4:06# “Something to Live For” - 5:36...
(1999) - Hearts and MindsHearts and Minds (Susannah McCorkle album)Hearts and Minds is a 2000 album by the jazz singer Susannah McCorkle, her 16th album.This was Susannah McCorkle's last set of recordings. She took her own life in May 2001.-Tracks:# “I Can Dream, Can't I?”...
(2000) - Most Requested Songs (2001)
- The Beginning 1975 (2002)
- Ballad EssentialsBallad EssentialsBallad Essentials # “How Long Has This Been Going On?” – 5:18# “You Go to My Head” – 4:07# “For All We Know” Ballad Essentials (A 2002 album by Susannah McCorkle)# “How Long Has This Been Going On?” (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – 5:18# “You Go to My Head” (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) –...
(2002)
External links
- Website dedicated to Susannah McCorkle
- Susannah McCorkle Papers, 1946-2001 Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
- Discography at Lycos
- Photo
- Haunted Heart listing on Amazon.com
- New York Times Obituary