Margrethe Blossom Dearie[ Dearie performed regular engagements in London and New York City over many years]
Early life
Margrethe Blossom Dearie was born on April 28, 1924, in East Durham, New York,
She reportedly received the name Blossom because of "a neighbor who delivered peach blossoms to her house the day she was born",[ although she once recalled it was her brothers who brought the flowers to the house.][
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Career
Beginnings
After high school, Dearie moved to Manhattan[ and the Blue Reys (with Alvino Rey's band) before starting her solo career.][
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Dearie moved to Paris in 1952. She formed a vocal group, the Blue Stars (1952–1955),[ which included Michel Legrand's sister, Christiane, and Bob Dorough. In 1954, the group had a hit in France with a French-language version of "Lullaby of Birdland",][ arranged by Michel Legrand.][
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In 1954, Dearie and King Pleasure recorded "Moody's Mood for Love" (a vocal adaptation by Eddie Jefferson of a James Moody sax solo for "I'm in the Mood for Love") and this is so noted on the Prestige album King Pleasure Sings. One of Dearie's most famous song recordings from that period is "The Riviera", with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Joseph McCarthy, in 1956.[
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Late 1950s and 1960s
After returning from France in 1957,[ Dearie made her first six American albums as a solo singer and pianist for Verve Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s,]
In 1964, Dearie recorded the album May I Come In? (Capitol Records/EMI).
1970s and later
In 1970, after a period of inactivity, Dearie released the album That's Just the Way I Want to Be (including her homage to Dusty Springfield). In 1974, she established her own label, Daffodil Records, which allowed her to fully control the recording and distribution of her albums. Dearie appeared on television throughout her career, including voice work for the children's educational series Schoolhouse Rock!. Some of her pieces in this series were written by her friend Bob Dorough, the jazz singer and composer with whom she performed in Paris in the 1950s. Her voice can be heard on "Mother Necessity", "Figure Eight", and "Unpack Your Adjectives".
The songwriter Johnny Mercer, with whom Dearie collaborated for her 1975 song "I'm Shadowing You",[ gave one of his final compositions to her for the title song of her 1976 Daffodil album My New Celebrity is You.][ "Blossom Dearie & Johnny Mercer's My New Celebrity Is You Finally Out on CD" , Allaboutjazz.com, June 21, 2006.] According to Dearie, she and Mercer were close friends.[
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In 1983, Dearie was awarded the first Mabel Mercer Foundation Award.
Other
Dearie's voice and songs have been featured on the soundtracks of several films and television shows, including Kissing Jessica Stein, My Life Without Me, The Squid and the Whale, The Adventures of Felix, The Artist, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (series), Call the Midwife (series), and Can You Ever Forgive Me?
She also recorded songs with other singers, including Lyle Lovett. She continued to perform in clubs until 2006.[ She appeared regularly on British television with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore,]
Musicianship
Throughout her career, Dearie was considered a "musician's musician".
Dearie's technique for learning songs was complex. First, she would sit down and learn the song at the piano. Once she had learned it fluently, she would work on the lyrics.
Dearie's pianistic skill was arguably less recognized than her vocal talents. Shortly after her death, the pianist Dave Frishberg recalled asking Bill Evans about his use of fourths in chord voicings. Frishberg wrote that "His immediate answer was that he heard Blossom Dearie play that way and it really knocked him out. Then he did a little rave review of Blossom, naming her as one of his models of piano playing."
Dearie said that she considered herself "a jazz musician, learning to be a jazz singer".
Vocal style
Dearie's vocal style was described by Natalie Weiner in The New Yorker as a "childish treble" singing "postgraduate lyrics".[
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Personal life and final years
Dearie lived in Paris, France, during the early 1950s; here she met and in 1954 married Bobby Jaspar, a Belgian flautist and saxophonist.[ The marriage ended in divorce in 1957.]
On February 7, 2009, after a long illness[ Dearie died in her sleep][ of natural causes][ at her apartment in Greenwich Village, according to her representative and manager Donald Schaffer.]
Daffodil Records
Daffodil Records is a record label that was founded by Dearie in 1973. In addition to being one of the first independent labels founded by a woman, she was the label's only artist.
Discography
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Blossom Dearie Plays April in Paris (Barclay, 1955–1956 1987)
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Blossom Dearie (Verve Records, 1957)
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Give Him the Ooh-La-La (Verve, 1958)
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Once Upon a Summertime (Verve, 1958)
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My Gentleman Friend (Verve, 1959)
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Blossom Dearie Sings Comden and Green (Verve, 1959)
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Soubrette Sings Broadway Hit Songs (Verve, 1960)
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Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin' Songs (Hires, 1963)
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May I Come In? (Capitol Records, 1964)
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Blossom Time at Ronnie Scott's (Fontana Records, 1966)
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Sweet Blossom Dearie (Fontana, 1967)
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Soon It's Gonna Rain (Fontana, 1967)
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Ben Bagley's Vernon Duke Revisited (Bob Crewe, 1970)
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That's Just the Way I Want to Be (Fontana, 1970)
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Ben Bagley's Arthur Schwartz Revisited (Crewe, 1971)
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Blossom Dearie Sings (Daffodil, 1973)
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Ben Bagley's Alan Jay Lerner Revisited (Crewe, 1974)
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Ben Bagley's De Sylva, Brown & Henderson Revisited (RCA Victor, 1974)
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Ben Bagley's Frank Loesser Revisited (Painted Smiles, 1974)
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Ben Bagley's Rodgers and Hart Revisited (RCA Victor, 1974)
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Ben Bagley's Oscar Hammerstein Revisited (Painted Smiles, 1975)
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From the Meticulous to the Sublime (Daffodil, 1975)
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Ben Bagley's Rodgers and Hart Revisited Vol. III (Painted Smiles, 1976)
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My New Celebrity Is You (Daffodil, 1976)
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Ben Bagley's Unpublished Cole Porter (Painted Smiles, 1977)
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Winchester in Apple Blossom Time (Daffodil, 1977)
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Ben Bagley's Cole Porter Revisited Vol. IV (Painted Smiles, 1979)
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Blossoms On Broadway (DRG Records, 1979)
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Needlepoint Magic (Daffodil, 1979)
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Ben Bagley's E.Y. Harburg Revisited (Painted Smiles, 1980)
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Ben Bagley's Harold Arlen and Vernon Duke Revisited (Painted Smiles, 1980)
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Ben Bagley's Ira Gershwin Revisited (Painted Smiles, 1980)
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Ben Bagley's Kurt Weill Revisited Vol. II (Painted Smiles, 1981)
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Positively (Daffodil, 1983)
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Simply (Daffodil, 1983)
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Et Tu, Bruce (Daffodil, 1984)
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(Daffodil, 1985)
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Songs of Chelsea (Daffodil, 1987)
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Tweedledum & Tweedledee (Two People Who Resemble Each Other, in this Case Musically) with Mike Renzi (Daffodil, 1991)
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Christmas Spice So Very Nice with Mike Renzi (Daffodil, 1991)
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Me and Phil: Blossom Dearie Live in Australia (EMI, 1994)
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Blossom Dearie: Jazz Masters 51 (Verve, 1996)
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Blossom's Planet (Daffodil, 2000)
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Live in London Volume 1 (Harkit, 2002)
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Live in London Volume 2 (Harkit, 2004)
Notes
Further reading
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Balliett, Whitney (1988). American Singers: 27 Portraits in Song. New York, Oxford University Press. .
External links
