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Jazz great Shirley Horn dies
Grammy-winning vocalist and pianist passes away at 71 after battling diabetes, her record company confirms.
Legendary jazz vocalist and pianist Shirley Horn died yesterday at a nursing home in the Washington, D.C. area after an extended bout with diabetes, according to her record label, Verve Music Group. She was 71.
Horn, who began playing the piano at the age of 4 and studied music at Howard University, went on to win a Grammy for best vocal jazz performance in 1998 after more than 30 years in the music industry.
"Shirley Horn was a true innovator," said Ron Goldstein, Verve's president and CEO, in a statement. "She created a unique style of playing and singing that was not only original, but so penetrating and so much her own that few dared try to copy it. Her passing is a great loss to Verve, to jazz, and to the world."
Horn got her first big break when Miles Davis invited her to open for him at New York City's Village Vanguard in 1960 and subsequently got a record deal with Mercury Records.
Horn eschewed touring for many years, choosing to stay in the Beltway area and raise her daughter.
In 1986, she signed with Verve, a move that jump-started her career. She went on to release 14 albums with Verve and received eight Grammy nominations.
Her lone Grammy win came in 1998 for her tribute to Miles Davis, I Remember Miles.
She garnered a number of lifetime achievement honors in recent years, including a 2003 Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence, an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music, and inclusion in ASCAP's Wall of Fame as the 2005 Living Legend.
In late 2004, Horn was honored at the Kennedy Center with an all-star tribute concert.
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