Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924 – June 28, 2010) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host.
Biography
Sherrill was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, on August 20, 1924.[1] Her first ambition was to become a writer:[1] she was the editor of her school paper.[2] She had a sister, Alice.[1]
Sherrill began her career with Duke Ellington in July 1942 when she was 17 years old. After a period at Wilberforce University, she rejoined in 1944 and remained with Ellington until 1946, when she left to marry Richard Guilmenot.[1] Ellington considered her one of his favorite singers.[3] "I never really left the band. I did recordings and special occasions. Duke would call me for jobs once a year at least," Sherrill told John S. Wilson in 1979.[2] Sherrill also performed with Ellingtonians Ray Nance and Rex Stewart for many years.[3] She worked with Ellington on the television broadcast of A Drum Is a Woman (1957), and toured the USSR with Benny Goodman in 1962.[1] The 1965 album Joya Sherrill Sings Duke features Ellingtonians performing in support.[4]
From 1970, Sherrill hosted a children's television show, Time for Joya, later called Joya's Fun School.[1] This was recorded for a few years, but was rerun until 1982.[1] In the mid-1970s, she accompanied her husband when he went to Iran for his work.[2] There, she had her own television program, which was broadcast live.[2] She returned to singing in New York near the end of that decade.[2]
Her husband died in 1989;[1] they had a son and a daughter.[2] Sherrill died from leukemia at home in Great Neck, New York, on June 28, 2010.[3]
Discography
As leader
Sugar and Spice with Luther Henderson (Columbia, 1962)
