Joan Wheatley is an American mezzo-soprano[1] singer who performed in personal appearances, on radio, and on Broadway.
Early years
Born in Artesia, New Mexico, Wheatley is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rex Wheatley.[2] She first studied piano when she was five years old. She gave piano recitals while she was a high school student,[3] and she played flute in the Pecos Valley Junior High School orchestra[4] and in the New Mexico Junior High and High School Orchestra.[5]
At Occidental College Wheatley studied flute, piano, and voice,[6] was president of her sophomore class,[7] and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[3] She began graduate study at Columbia University with plans to be a missionary in India. However, when she reunited with a college friend who was a member of Fred Waring's glee club, musical interests became her primary focus. A successful audition with Waring combined with the sickness of a glee club member to give her an opportunity to become a soloist for Waring.[8] She also went on to earn a master's degree in sociology from Columbia.[3] In 1942, Wheatley received a scholarship funded by Mary Martin through Paramount Studios. Wheatley was selected from 50 young women who auditioned out of 250 initial applicants.[9]
Career
In May 1940, Wheatley was singing on a weekly variety program on WNYC radio in New York City.[10] She also sang on the RCA Victor Show and on An Invitation to Music, a symphony program on CBS.[3]
Wheatley sang with the Collegiate Chorale and the Light Opera Repertory Company of New York.[3] In 1942, she appeared in a revival of The New Moon at Carnegie Hall.[11] On Broadway, she performed in The Merry Widow (1942) and Rosalinda (1942).[12]
After Fred Waring heard Wheatley sing in 1945, she became a featured soloist with his Pennsylvanians musical group.[3] Her first solo performance on Waring's radio program came on March 22, 1945,[13] and she went on to sing solos regularly on his broadcasts on radio and television.[2]
During World War II, Wheatley sang for wounded military personnel in hospitals.[3] In 1946, she decided to combine her college training with her musical abilities to study the then-new field of musical therapy, both as a performer and as a developer of new techniques in that field. She said that she would be able to work in that area while continuing to sing with Waring.[14]
In July 1953, Wheatley began singing nightly in the Pagoda Room of the Saxony Hotel in Miami.[15]