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Sue Raney
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in the Los Angeles area, and if she had recorded more extensively throughout her career. But she is one of the greats.
Sue was born Raelene Claire Claussen on June 18,1940, in McPherson, Kansas, and her career started very early. "I came From a musical background for my mother was a singer and my great great aunt had been in German opera When I was about four my mother realized that I could sing. My first public appearance was at a party in Wichita, Kansas when I was five."
Unable to find a voice teacher for her daughter at that time (due to her extreme youth), Raney's mother (who later in life became a vocal teacher) took voice lessons herself and then passed what she learned down to Sue.
"Early on I sang the hits, tunes that the girl singers in the big hands were performing. While growing up in the 1950's. I first listened to Doris Day, Patti Page, Rosemary Clooney and Kay Starr. I discovered jazz when I was 16 or 17 and of course soon loved Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan."
After working steadily in New Mexico and taking several trips out to Los Angeles during a couple of summer vacations, Sue Raney joined the Jack Carson radio show in 1954. "That is why the family moved out to Los Angeles. I had auditioned for Frankie Laine and made a couple of demos for his office. It was through him that I ended up on the Jack Carson show. It was one of the last major radio programs on CBS and at 15 I was the teenager on the show for nine or ten months. After Jack Carson I started appearing on Ray Anthony's television program and then became the vocalist with his hand when he played the Palladium. When I was 19, I put an act together and started working on the road."
She was already an established singer when most young girls were making a rather awkward transition from Elvis Presley to Clearasil. It took time to polish her vocal talent. There were ups and downs, good breaks and bad ones. There was the time in Australia when the critics banged nothing but praise out of their typewriters and the crowds came early and stayed and stayed and stayed. Then, for a time, things couldn't be better, She completed her third album for Capitol Records and was swamped with hotel and night club bookings as well as offers for various television appearances. Then came a down. An auto accident crumbled the classic stairway to stardom. Bedridden for months, Sue faded out of the musical picture. But no one seemed to forget. With the help of crutches, she made an appearance on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show," and became an instant hit.
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Baby Talk
by H William Stine
Taking baby steps—isn't that what I was doing in my driveway after the last snow storm? Out of the mouths of babes—isn't that why we put bibs on them? Sleep like a baby—I'm sure my audience can relate to that. Throw the baby out with the bath water—doesn't that just mean it's time to get your eyes examined? What's with all the baby stuff, Bill? Because this week I dedicated the show to nothing but baby talk with some wonderful singers and, ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Videos: Sue Raney, 1963
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In August 1963, West Coast singer Sue Raney appeared on the Australian TV program Brian Henderson's Bandstand. Henderson was a newsreader on the country's Nine Network and hosted its music show from 1958 to 1972. Sue was likely in Australia to perform and promote one of her Capitol releases. These videos of her performances went up at YouTube a month ago and were sent along by Steve Taylor: Here's Sue singing Fly Me to the Moon. What a marvelous, flawless ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today!
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
Sue Raney: The Capitol Years
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Yesterday I spent the day writing and listening to Sue Raney's Capitol recordings between 1956 and 1960. Sue's voice during this period is like a bell shrouded in mist. Somehow she managed to surround her clear, ringing intonation with a breathy huskiness, forcing you to listen and relax at the same time. It was quite a vocal trick. Sue's earliest Capitol discs in 1956 were singles arranged by Bob Bain. They included a thoroughly engaging and cozy rendition of The ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Sue Raney
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Sue Raney's birthday today! Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in-tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Raney would be much better known today if she did not spend most of her time as a well-respected voice teacher, living in ...
read more
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