Betty Blake

Cincinnati-born singer Betty Ann Blake (April 9, 1937), began her career at 16 with local bands and then joined the Ernie Rudy (1954-1956) and Buddy Morrow (1956-1958) orchestras. As Morrow’s featured vocalist she attracted the attention of Golden Crest Records. Offered work as guest singer on two songs on an album by trumpeter John Plonsky’s modern jazz quintet, this in turn led to the recording of a single accompanied by Jack Zimmerman’s orchestra. Her band experience took her to clubs around the country, and after four years she returned to Cincinnati to join a vocal group for a time. When in 1961 vibes player and producer Teddy Charles approached her to do an album for Bethlehem Records featuring five Alec Wilder ballads, she decided to drop the Ann from her name. For this release, “Betty Blake Sings in a Tender Mood,” top flight jazzmen like Mal Waldron, Zoot Sims, Kenny Burrell, Roland Alexander and Charles furnished her with an ideal background. She had a touching ballad style, and swung well on medium and uptempo tunes, always approaching her material in a direct, ungimmicky fashion and faithfully serving the sense of the lyric. Unfortunately she disappeared from the scene and nothing was heard of her until her untimely death, of cancer, at age 63, on September 19, 2001. info from freshsoundrecords