Music / Theatre & dance
Barbara Lea
1929–2011 · jazz singer, actress
Detroit-born jazz singer, admired for her faithful readings of the American songbook, whose father was a clarinetist turned Michigan attorney general.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Raleigh, North Carolina
aged 82- Birth name
- Barbara Leacock
- Detroit years
- 1929–1940s
- Field
- Music, Theatre & dance
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Barbara Lea was born and raised in Detroit. Her father had played clarinet before becoming Michigan's attorney general, and he changed the family name from LeCocq to Leacock; she shortened it to Lea when she began to sing professionally. She decided early to become a singer and, while still in Michigan, entered contests and sang with dance bands. She went east to Wellesley College to study music theory and in the early 1950s worked at Boston's Storyville club when her idol Lee Wiley was appearing there. Her debut album, Woman in Love, came out in 1955 and established her as an elegant, understated interpreter of popular song. In the 1960s she turned to acting, later earning a drama degree from California State University, Northridge, and in the 1970s she appeared on Alec Wilder's NPR series American Popular Song. She sang at the Newport, Kool and JVC jazz festivals and built programs around Cole Porter, Hoagy Carmichael and the Gershwins. She died in 2011 of complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Highlights
- Sang with dance bands in her Michigan youth
- Debut album Woman in Love (1955)
- Featured on Alec Wilder's NPR series American Popular Song (1976)
- Appeared at the Newport, Kool and JVC jazz festivals