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Andrew Wideman Bey Jr. (October 28, 1939 – April 26, 2025) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Bey had a wide vocal range, with a four-octave baritone voice.
Raised in Newark, New Jersey,Adler, David R. "Andy Bey", JazzTimes, April 25, 2019. Retrieved December 14, 2020. "We are sitting in Bey's studio apartment on the western edge of Manhattan's Chelsea district, where he has lived for the last 13 years. Originally from Newark, N.J., Bey knew the Shorter brothers-Wayne and Alan-when they were both teenagers." Bey attended Newark Arts High School. Celestial Being: The 80th Birthday Concert Celebrating Andy Bey, Birdland. Retrieved December 14, 2020. "When Mr. Bey was 18 years old, he left the Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey in the middle of his senior year, and with his sisters, Geraldine and Salome, formed the trio Andy and the Bey Sisters."
His mother, Victoria (Johnson) Wideman, raised Andy and his eight older siblings.
Bey was openly gay. In 1994, he was diagnosed as HIV-positive, but continued his career, maintaining a lifestyle that included yoga and a vegetarianism. Producer Herb Jordan supported Bey in the resurgence of his recording career, and their 1996 recording Ballads, Blues & Bey returned Bey to prominence.
Bey was a longtime-resident of Chelsea, Manhattan. He died in Englewood, New Jersey on April 26, 2025, at the age of 85.
In 1973, Bey and Dee Dee Bridgewater were the featured vocalists on Stanley Clarke's album Children of Forever. Later, Bey recorded the album Experience and Judgment (1974), which was influenced by Indian music. He then returned to hard bop, and recorded covers of music by non-jazz musicians, such as Nick Drake..
In 1976, Bey performed in a theatre production of Adrienne Kennedy's A Rat's Mass directed by Cecil Taylor at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan. Musicians Rashid Bakr, Jimmy Lyons, Karen Borca, David S. Ware, and Raphe Malik also performed in the production. Taylor's production combined the original script with a chorus of orchestrated voices used as instruments.La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Rat's Mass, A (1976)". Accessed August 8, 2018.
Bey's other albums include Ballads, Blues & Bey (1996), Tuesdays in Chinatown (2001), American Song (2004) and Ain't Necessarily So (2007). He received the "2003 Jazz Vocalist of the Year" award by the Jazz Journalists Association. His album American Song received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2005.
With Andy and the Bey Sisters
With Gary Bartz
With Stanley Clarke
With Gerry Eastman
With Howard McGhee
With Bob Malach
With Grachan Moncur III
With James Mtume
With Duke Pearson
With Max Roach
With Horace Silver
Career
He worked on the 1959/1960 television show Startime with Connie Francis, and sang for Louis Jordan. At age 17, he formed a trio with his siblings Salome Bey and Geraldine Bey (de Haas) called Andy and the Bey Sisters. The trio went on a 16-month tour of Europe. The jazz trumpeter Chet Baker's 1988 documentary Let's Get Lost includes footage of Bey and his sisters delighting a Parisian audience. The trio recorded three albums (one for RCA Victor in 1961 and two for Prestige Records in 1964 and 1965) before breaking up in 1967. Bey also worked with Horace Silver and Gary Bartz.
Awards and honors
Discography
External links
Categories: 1939 Births, 2025 Deaths, 20th-century African-american Male Singers, 20th-century American Lgbtq People, 20th-century American Male Musicians, 20th-century American Male Singers, 20th-century American Pianists, 20th-century American Singers, 21st-century African-american Musicians, 21st-century American Lgbtq People, 21st-century American Male Musicians, 21st-century American Pianists, African-american Lgbtq People, African-american Pianists, American Gay Musicians, American Jazz Pianists, American Jazz Singers, American Male Jazz Pianists, Highnote Records Artists, Jazz Musicians From New York, Lgbtq People From New Jersey, Jazz Musicians From Newark, New Jersey, Newark Arts High School Alumni, Newark Jazz, People From Chelsea, Manhattan, Aids, Prestige Records Artists
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