Joya Sherrill

Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924, Bayonne, New Jersey – June 28, 2010, Great Neck, New York) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host.

Sherrill began her career with Duke Ellington in 1942, aged 17, later becoming a member of his orchestra from 1944 to 1946. She had a hit with Ellington's tune "I'm Beginning to See the Light". Subsequently, she worked as a soloist, performing with Rex Stewart, Ray Nance, and others into the 1960s. She returned to Ellington for 1959's A Drum Is a Woman. She toured the U.S. in 1959 and then took a role on Broadway in The Long Dream. She toured with Benny Goodman in the USSR in 1962 and then returned to sing with Ellington in 1963.

From 1970-82 she had a children's television show, Time for Joya, later called Joya's Fun School. Later in the 1980s she hosted a children's show in the Middle East.

Death

She died of complications from leukemia in 2010, aged 85. She was survived by a son, a daughter, a sister and two grandchildren.

Discography

• As a leader:

• Sugar and Spice (1962)
• Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (Verve, 1965) with Ray Nance, Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Ernie Harper, Billy Strayhorn, Joe Benjamin, John Lamb
• Black Beauty, the Duke in Mind (1994)

• As sideperson with Duke Ellington:
• Black, Brown and Beige (Columbia Records, 1943)
• The Carnegie Hall Concerts (January 1946) (Fantasy Records)
• Greatest Hits (RCA Records, 1996)

• Other
• Sammy Davis Jr. Jumps with Joya, with Sammy Davis, Jr. Design/Pickwick Records

Sources

• Joya Sherrill at Allmusic