EntertainmentPosted at: Aug 13 2025 6:05AM


Pioneering Jazz singer Sheila Jordan dies at 96

New York, Aug 13 (UNI) Jazz singer Sheila Jordan, who helped pioneer a bebop and scat jazz singing style, as well as a bass-voice duo in the genre, has died at age of 96.
Jordan died peacefully on Monday, Aug. 11, in New York City, her daughter Tracey Jordan confirmed in an Instagram post, reports PEOPLE.
"Her friend Joan Belgrave was playing her a bebop tune called Bill for Bennie, by her late husband Marcus Belgrave…my mom fell asleep listening to the music she loved and helped define," Tracey wrote in the Instagram post.
"... the money raised on her GoFundMe page will be used to pay off medical debt and secure a plot for her at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Jazz Corner… a memorial service will be planned in the future at Saint Peter’s Church in New York City. Love, Tracey," she wrote.
Born in Detroit on November 18, 1928, Jordan was raised by grandparents who struggled with alcoholism in Pennsylvania's coal region.
To escape from her "unhappy" childhood, Jordan began singing and later discovered her love for jazz by hearing Charlie Parker on a jukebox.
In the early '50s, Jordan moved to New York and married Duke Jordan, who was a pianist for Parker's band. Jordan welcomed Tracey with Jordan — but his heroin addiction eventually tore them apart.
At the time, Jordan got a job as a typist at an advertising agency — which she stayed in for 25 years — and raised Tracey as a single mom. Still, she made time for her musical passions.
While in New York, she appeared on George Russell's album The Outer View by lending her vocals to "You Are My Sunshine." The following year, Jordan released her debut album Portrait of Sheila via Blue Note Records.
She never stopped performing, either, and would often tour with bassist Harvie S, Cameron Brown and composer Steve Kuhn.
Her last performance was on Valentine's Day at The Green Mill in Chicago, which is the same day she released her latest studio album, Portrait Now.
In 1978, Jordan began teaching at the City College of New York and continued teaching jazz vocal workshops until 2005. In 2012, she received the National Endowment of the Arts as a Jazz Master award, the genre's highest honour.
Despite not becoming a household name, Jordan took great pride in her contribution to the jazz community.
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