Ranee Lee

Ranee Lee, CM (born October 26, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City) is a Canadian jazz vocalist and musician who resides in Montreal, Quebec. She is also an actor, author, educator and television host.

Ranee Lee
Background information
Born (1942-10-26) October 26, 1942
Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States
GenresVocal jazz, jazz blues, torch songs
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter, jazz drummer, tenor saxophonist
InstrumentsVocals
LabelsJustin Time
WebsiteRanee Lee, Justin Time Records

Biography

Born in Brooklyn, Lee moved to Montreal at the age of 28 in 1970.[1] She toured North America in the 1970s as a jazz drummer and tenor saxophonist. She subsequently landed a starring role playing Billie Holiday in Lady Day, and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her performance. She subsequently began recording as a vocalist, releasing her first album Live at the Bijou in 1984.

She wrote and starred in Dark Divas, The Musical, a tribute to the lives and careers of seven of the most popular female jazz singers of the 20th century: Josephine Baker, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan.[2]

Her music appears in the animated short film Black Soul (2002).

She is also a children's book writer (author of Nana, What Do You Say?); an educator, long associated with the University of Laval in Quebec City and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University;[3] and she hosted the television series The Performers.[4]

Honors and awards

Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award in 1988 for her musical and actorial achievements. Lee was named a member of the Order of Canada in 2006. She received the International Association of Jazz Educators award in 2004 and 2008.[5] She won a 2010 Juno Award for her album Ranee Lee – Lives Upstairs.

Discography
  • All Grown Up (RCA Victor, 1980)
  • Live at the Bijou (Justin Time, 1984)
  • Deep Song (Justin Time, 1989)
  • The Musicals: Jazz on Broadway (Justin Time, 1992)
  • I Thought About You (Justin Time, 1994)
  • You Must Believe in Swing (Justin Time, 1996)
  • Seasons of Love (Justin Time, 1997)
  • Presents Dark Divas (Justin Time, 2000)
  • Songs from the Great Canadian Songbook (Justin Time, 2003)
  • Just You, Just Me with Oliver Jones (Justin Time, 2005)
  • Lives Upstairs (Justin Time, 2009)
  • A Celebration in Time with Oliver Jones, (Justin Time, 2010)
  • What's Going On (Justin Time, 2014)

References
  1. "Ranee Lee". Five Bucks On By-Tor. April 19, 2009. Archived from the original on May 2, 2014.
  2. McRae, Ricardo (March 15, 2011). "Ranee Lee". Who's Who in Black Canada.
  3. "Ranee Lee". Justin Time Records. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010.
  4. Sader, Lucas (May–June 2010). "Ranee Lee: Dark Diva". dig! Magazine.
  5. "Ranee Lee". Wild West Artist Management.
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