Jeanie Bryson
{{short description|American singer|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Jeanie Bryson
| image =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1958|3|10}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| occupation = Singer
| years_active = 1993–present
| label = Koch, Telarc
| website =
| spouse = {{marriage|Coleman Mellett|2004|2009|end=died}}
}}
Jeanie Bryson (born March 10, 1958) is an American singer who sings a combination of jazz, pop, and Latin music. Her repertoire is based on jazz and pop standards from the Great American Songbook, Peggy Lee and Dinah Washington.
Life and career
Bryson is the daughter of composer Connie Bryson and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.{{cite news|url=http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/579271.html|title=Passengers and crew aboard Flight 3407: Their stories|last=Vogel|first=Charity|date=February 14, 2009|work=Buffalo News|accessdate=2009-02-14|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090216124752/http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/579271.html|archivedate=February 16, 2009}} Her paternity was kept a secret until after Gillespie's death because he was married, but she occasionally saw him growing up.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/28/nyregion/dizzys-daughter-has-her-own-career-in-jazz.html|title=Dizzy's Daughter Has Her Own Career in Jazz|last=Smith|first=Richard D.|date=1993-03-28|work=The New York Times|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In 1998 Bryson filed a lawsuit against his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie, after her lawyer found court records from 1965 in which Gillespie admitted he was her father. She reached a settlement with his estate.{{cite web|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/dizzy-gillespie-dad-sez-sues-article-1.865975|title=Dizzy Gillespie Was Dad, She Sez, and Sues|last1=Smith|first1=Greg B.|date=5 January 2000|website=nydailynews.com|accessdate=26 July 2019}} When describing her father, Bryson once stated: "He was not the traditional dad, not at all. Let’s just put it this way: I remember being 18, going to see him in a club, going out to a van that was parked outside, and sharing a joint with him."
Bryson grew up in East Brunswick, New Jersey. She began playing instruments at a young age, piano in first grade and then flute in fifth grade. Bryson attended East Brunswick High School.Skelly, Richard. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/317459401/ "Cabaret singer blossoms"], Home News Tribune, March 18, 1988. Accessed February 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Jeanie Bryson was a late bloomer in the world of cabaret singing.... Bryson attended East Brunswick High School and Colorado State University, then returned to the East, graduating from Livingston College at Rutgers University in 1981." She studied anthropology and ethnomusicology at Livingston College, Rutgers University, graduating in 1981.{{cite web |last1=Yanow |first1=Scott |title=Jeanie Bryson |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/jeanie-bryson-mn0000814058/biography |website=AllMusic |accessdate=26 July 2019}} That year, she performed with her father in Salem County, singing "God Bless the Child" by Billie Holiday. After college she worked in a post office during the week and sang on weekends, by the end of the 1980s she was singing full-time. Bryson released her debut album, I Love Being Here with You, on Telarc in 1993. Her mother contributed the lyrics to two songs on the album. Bryson also sang on an album by Terence Blanchard devoted to Billie Holiday songs.
Bryson has a son, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett, from the first of her three marriages. Her husband, guitarist Coleman Mellett (married 2004) died in the February 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407.{{cite web|url=https://www.nj.com/news/2009/02/nj_musicians_among_victims_of.html|title=N.J. musicians among victims of Continental plane crash near Buffalo|date=13 February 2009|website=nj.com|accessdate=26 July 2019}} The couple lived in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
Discography
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070917191142/http://www.jeaniebryson.com/ Jeanie Bryson official website]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bryson, Jeanie}}
Category:East Brunswick High School alumni
Category:People from East Brunswick, New Jersey
Category:Rutgers University alumni
Category:American women jazz singers