Introduction
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, at the age of17, and was 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 1956'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. In the 1980s she hosted a children's show in the Middle East.
Death
She died of complications from leukemia in 2010 at the age of 85. She was survived by a son, a daughter, a sister and two grandchildren.
Discography
As 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, 1943)
- The Carnegie Hall Concerts (January 1946) (Fantasy)
- Greatest Hits (RCA, 1996)
As duo
- Sammy Davis Jr. Jumps with Joya, with Sammy Davis, Jr. Design/Pickwick