Beverly Kenney
Singer Beverly Kenney remains one of jazz's great tragedies -- an exquisitely nuanced stylist whose sophisticated phrasing perfectly complemented the cool jazz sensibilities of the late '50s, she committed suicide at the peak of her career and awaits rediscovery by the vast majority of the listening public.
Born in Harrison, NJ, on January 29, 1932, Kenney began her career singing birthday greetings via telephone for Western Union. Ultimately she relocated to New York City, and in 1954 cut her first demo session with pianist Tony Tamburello (finally issued in 2006 under the title Snuggled on Your Shoulder). By year's end Kenney relocated to Miami, soon securing an agent and appearing at the Black Magic Room. There she was discovered by the Dorsey Brothers, spending several months on tour with their orchestra before creative differences prompted her exit. From there Kenney returned to New York, working clubs in the company of George Shearing, Don Elliott, and Kai Winding in addition to briefly touring the Midwest with the Larry Sonn Band before signing to the Roost label, which in early 1956 issued her debut LP, Beverly Kenny Sings for Johnny Smith. Come Swing with Me, a pairing with arranger Ralph Burns, followed later that same year, and in the spring of 1957 she teamed with Jimmy Jones & the Basie-Ites for her final effort for the label.
Kenney resurfaced on Decca in 1958 with Sings for Playboys -- her masterpiece, Born to Be Blue, soon followed, and a year later she issued her swan song, Like Yesterday. Critics and fellow artists were virtually unanimous in their praise of Kenney's artistry, but the emergence of rock & roll virtually guaranteed she would remain anonymous to the public at large. Tellingly, during a May 18, 1958, appearance on NBC's The Steve Allen Show, she performed an original composition titled "I Hate Rock and Roll." Friends and colleagues generally cite Kenney as a melancholy, distant figure in the final months of her life, but her suicide at age 28 on April 13, 1960, still raises myriad questions: by most accounts, she spent her last hours writing each of her parents long, heartbreaking letters at the desk in her Greenwich Village flat before consuming a lethal overdose of alcohol and Seconal, but her motivations are unknown. A 1992 GQ magazine profile by Jonathan Schwartz suggests Kenney was despondent over the dissolution of her romance with Beat Generation guru Milton Klonsky, but a subsequent investigation by fan and journalist Bill Reed casts serious doubt on this theory. While a virtual footnote in her native U.S., Kenney boasts an ever-growing cult following in Japan, where all six of her LPs have remained in print.
© Jason Ankeny /TiVo
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Discography
87 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Born To Be Blue (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 2 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Come, Swing With Me (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 2 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sings for Playboys
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 22 jun. 2021
Available in24-Bit/48 kHz Stereo -
Sings For Johnny Smith (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 2 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Like, Yesterday! (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 2 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Almost Like Being in Love (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 23 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 2 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Born to Be Blue
Vocale jazz - Released by Stardust Records on 15 feb. 2013
The Qobuz Essential DiscographyAvailable in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Vocal and Jazz Essentials (Beverly Kenney)
Vocale jazz - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 1 nov. 2012
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sings for Johnny Smith / Come Sing with Me / Sings with Jimmy Jones and the Basie-Ites
Jazz - Released by Fresh Sound Records on 3 apr. 2013
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Born To Be Blue
Jazz - Released by Verve Reissues on 6 jul. 1959
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Beverly Kenney Sings For Playboys
Jazz - Released by Verve Reissues on 1 jan. 1958
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Sings for Playboys / ...Born to Be Blue... / Like Yesterday
Jazz - Released by Fresh Sound Records on 3 apr. 2013
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Come Swing with Me
Vocale jazz - Released by Stardust Records on 15 feb. 2013
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Sings With Jimmy Jones And "The Basie-Ites" (Remastered)
Jazz - Released by RevOla on 3 jul. 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
UpGraded Masters (All Tracks Remastered)
Jazz - Released by jjjedizionimusicali on 3 okt. 2022
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Beverly Kenney Sings for Johnny Smith
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 15 jan. 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Born to Be Blue...
Beverly Kenney, Charlie Albertine's Orchestra, Hal Mooney's Orchestra
Pop - Released by Red Tone Recordings on 19 jun. 2024
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Beverly Kenney Sings with Jimmy Jones and The Basie-Ites
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 15 jan. 2021
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo