Search - Artist/Band: Chris Connor

• Name: Chris Connor
• Birthday: 11/08/1927
• Birth Place: Kansas City, MO
• Died: 08/29/2009
• Decades Active: 1950,1960,1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Vocal Music
• Styles: Cool, Torch Songs, Traditional Pop, Vocal Jazz
• Moods: Elegant, Lively, Sophisticated, Autumnal, Boisterous, Dramatic, Freewheeling, Wistful, Intimate, Lush, Playful, Refined/Mannered, Rousing, Stylish, Energetic, Romantic, Sensual, Amiable/Good-Natured, Sentimental

Title	Release
All About Ronnie: The Bethlehem Recordings 1953-1955 WA	06/16/2008
Complete Bethlehem Recordings WA	07/31/2007
Birdland Lullaby	06/25/2007
At the Village Gate WA	10/03/2006
All About Chris WA	09/19/2006
Alone Together WA	12/15/2004
'S Wonderful	11/16/2004
Sings Lullabies for Lovers WA	12/29/2003
Everything I Love WA	07/29/2003
I Walk with Music	09/17/2002
Chris in Person/Chris Connor Sings George Gershwin WA	11/13/2001
Haunted Heart WA	08/28/2001
I Miss You So/Witchcraft WA	08/14/2001
Chris Connor/He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not WA	06/22/1999
Warm Cool: The Atlantic Years WA	03/16/1999
All About Ronnie	08/04/1998
London Connection	08/11/1994
As Time Goes By WA	03/30/1991
New Again	08/1987
Classic WA	08/1986
Sweet and Swinging	01/27/1978
Softly and Swingin'	1969
Now WA	1967
Free Spirits	12/11/1961
Double Exposure WA	1961
A Portrait of Chris WA	12/05/1960
Witchcraft	10/05/1959
Sings Ballads of the Sad Cafe WA	01/29/1959
Chris Craft WA	04/08/1958
A Jazz Date with Chris Connor WA	11/16/1956
A Jazz Date with Chris Connor/Chris Craft WA	11/16/1956
I Miss You So	07/28/1956
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not	06/05/1956
Sings the George Gershwin Almanac of Song WA	06/05/1956
Chris Connor WA	01/23/1956
This Is Chris WA	04/1955
Chris WA	08/09/1954
Sings Lullabies of Birdland WA	12/17/1953
Out of This World

Along with June Christy, Helen O'Connell, and Julie London, Chris Connor epitomized cool jazz singing in the 1950s. Influenced by Anita O'Day, the torchy, smoky singer wasn't one for aggression. Like Chet Baker on the trumpet or Paul Desmond and Lee Konitz on alto sax, she used subtlety and restraint to their maximum advantage. At the University of Missouri, Connor (who had studied clarinet at an early age) sang with a Stan Kentonish big band led by trombonist Bob Brookmeyer before leaving her native Kansas City for New York in 1947. Quite appropriately, she was featured in the lyrical pianist Claude Thornhill's orchestra in the early '50s. After leaving Thornhill, Connor was hired by Kenton at Christy's recommendation, and her ten-month association with him in 1952-1953 resulted in the hit "All About Ronnie." Connor debuted as a solo artist in 1953, recording three albums for Bethlehem before moving to Atlantic in 1955 and recording 12. Connor reached the height of her popularity in the 1950s, when she delivered her celebrated versions of Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" and George Shearing's "Lullaby of Broadway," and recorded such excellent albums as The Rich Sound of Chris Connor and Lullabies of Birdland for Bethlehem and Chris Craft and Ballads of the Sad Cafe for Atlantic. Connor made a poor career move in 1962, the year she left Atlantic and signed with a label her manager was starting, FM Records -- Connor had recorded only two albums for FM when they folded. Connor's recording career was rejuvenated in the 1970s, and she went on to record for Progressive, Stash, and Contemporary in the '70s and '80s. Connor maintained a devoted following in the 1990s and continued to tour internationally. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide