The Beauty of Song, Part Two: Sheryl Crow

The one and only. :-)



Sheryl Crow is the greatest American rock and roll songstress of the past twenty years.

A onetime music teacher in her native Missouri, Sheryl Crow spent the eighties trying to make it as a recording artist and, in 1993, finally broke through with her second attempt at a debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club. The album, which featured the hits "All I Wanna Do" and "Strong Enough,"sold seven million copies.



Every subsequent album she's done has gone platinum, and she has continued to have hit singles: "If It Makes You Happy," "Every Day Is a Winding Road," "Soak Up the Sun," and a cover of Cat Stevens's "The First Cut Is the Deepest."

Sheryl Crow released a Christmas album in 2008, and at this writing is preparing a new studio LP for 2010.

The Beauty of Song, Part Two: Soul singer Anita Baker

Anita Baker emerged in the eighties as one of the best female soul singers of the decade, and possibly the best singer in any genre of the time. To date, she has won eight Grammy Awards and she has to her credit four platinum albums and two gold albums.



Her second album, 1986's Rapture, was her commercial breakthrough, which she followed up with the similarly successful Giving You the Best That I Got two years later. Her hit singles include "Sweet Love," "Just Because," and Talk To Me." Although Anita Baker came out of the 1980s, she somehow managed to make it without scandalous videos on MTV - she relied exclusively on her talent.

Fun fact: Although Anita Baker is from Detroit, she became known for never having learned how to drive a car.

The Beauty of Song, Part Two: Jazz vocalist Jackie Allen

Jackie Allen is a Chicago-based jazz singer who has performed steadily, and she has recorded since 1994.



Her repertoire includes all the obvious jazz standards, of course, but it also includes songs from artists ranging from James Taylor to Van Morrison, and from Paul Simon to Annie Lennox.

Originally from Wisconsin, Jackie Allen is also a music teacher, serving on the faculty of the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and having taught at Elmhurst College, Chicago’s Old Town School of Folk Music, Bloom School of Jazz and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee.

More information on her is available at her Web site.

New Series: The Beauty of Song, Part Two!

For the month of October 2009, I am featuring beautiful women in the world of music for a second time.

There will be plenty of vocalists, obviously, but if I find any instrumentalists to feature, they will certainly be included.

So let's get started! :-)