Carmen McRae

Carmen McRae always had an intriguing, smoky voice but it was her lithe, behind-the-beat phrasing and ironic interpretations of lyrics that made her most memorable. She had her first important job singing with Benny Carter's big band (1944), but it would be another decade before she recorded as a leader, and by then she had absorbed the influences of Billie Holiday and bebop into her own style. Championed in the '50s by Ralph Gleason, Carmen McRae was eventually the recipient of seven Grammy nominations between 1971 and 1990. She retired in 1991.