Shirley Bunnie Foy (October 13, 1936 – November 24, 2016), also known as Bunny Foy, was an American jazz singer, songwriter, and percussionist.

Biography

Shirley Bunnie Foy was born in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

, New York. She was raised in a family of musicians and during her childhood she discovered

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel music is compo ...

spirituals Spirituals (also known as Negro spirituals, African American spirituals, Black spirituals, or spiritual music) is a genre of Christian music that is associated with African Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the exp ...

, and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. At the age of 17, she started her career touring the Atlantic coast and Canada with a

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

group called The Dell-Tones. The ensemble was formed by Della Griffin,

Gloria Lynne Gloria Lynne (born Gloria Wilson; November 23, 1929 – October 15, 2013), also known as Gloria Alleyne, was an American jazz vocalist with a recording career spanning from 1958 to 2007. Early life Lynne was born in Harlem in 1929 to John and Ma ...

Sonny Til Earlington Carl Tilghman, known as Sonny Til (August 18, 1928 – December 9, 1981),
- accessed May 2010 was an American singer. He ...

, and

Slide Hampton Locksley Wellington Hampton (April 21, 1932 – November 18, 2021) was an American jazz trombone, jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. As his nickname implies, Hampton's main instrument was slide trombone, but he also occasionally played tub ...

. Foy settled in Paris in 1959, and after an engagement at La Calvados, a jazz club near the

Champs-Élysées The Avenue des Champs-Élysées (, ; ) is an Avenue (landscape), avenue in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France, long and wide, running between the Place de la Concorde in the east and the Place Charles de Gaulle in the west, where the Arc ...

, she toured with pianist Pierre Franzino (her future husband), in France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and North Africa. In 1960 she participated in the first Jazz Festival of Antibes/Juan-les-Pins. In 1965, she performed in New York with

Archie Shepp Archie Shepp (born May 24, 1937) is an American jazz saxophonist, educator and playwright who since the 1960s has played a central part in the development of avant-garde jazz. Biography Early life Shepp was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but ...

. During the following years, she collaborated with trumpeter

Charlie Shavers Charles James Shavers (August 3, 1920 – July 8, 1971) was an American jazz trumpeter who played with Dizzy Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams, Tommy Dorsey, and Billie Holiday. He ...

, bassist

Arvell Shaw Arvell Shaw (September 15, 1923 – December 5, 2002) was an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work with Louis Armstrong. Life and career He was born on September 15, 1923, in St. Louis, Missouri. Shaw learned to play tuba in high ...

, drummer

Jo Jones Jonathan David Samuel Jones (October 7, 1911 – September 3, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. A band leader and pioneer in jazz percussion, Jones anchored the Count Basie Orchestra rhythm section from 1934 to 1948. He was sometimes k ...

, and saxophonist Curtis Porter. During her career, she worked in the U.S. with

Johnny Griffin John Arnold Griffin III (April 24, 1928 – July 25, 2008) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of ...

, drummer

Art Blakey Arthur Blakey (October 11, 1919 – October 16, 1990) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was also known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s. Blakey made a name for himself in the 1 ...

, pianist

Randy Weston Randolph Edward "Randy" Weston (April 6, 1926 – September 1, 2018) was an American jazz pianist and composer whose creativity was inspired by his ancestral African connection. Weston's piano style owed much to Duke Ellington and Thelonious M ...

, organist

Lou Bennett Lou Bennett (May 18, 1926, Philadelphia – February 10, 1997, Paris) was an American jazz organist. Bennett first played bebop on piano, but started playing organ in 1956 after hearing Jimmy Smith. Bennett toured the U.S. with an organ trio bet ...

, vibraphonist

Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with ...

and in Italy with guitarists

Franco Cerri Franco Cerri (29 January 1926 – 18 October 2021) was an Italian guitarist and double bassist. Biography Cerri was born in Milan and learned to play guitar when he was 17. In 1945 he became a member of the group led by Gorni Kramer and joined ...

and Bruno De Filippi, bassist/arranger

Pino Presti Giuseppe Prestipino Giarritta (born 23 August 1943), professionally known by his pseudonym Pino Presti, is an Italian conductor, arranger, bassist, composer and record producer from Milan. He is a 5th-dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. Pres ...

, bassist Stefano Cerri, pianists Enrico Intra and Renato Sellani, drummers Gil Cuppini,

Tullio De Piscopo Tullio De Piscopo (born 24 February 1946 in Naples, Italy) is an Italian drummer, percussionist and singer-songwriter. De Piscopo was born in Naples. His father was an orchestra percussionist. In 1969 he moved to Turin and two years later he moved ...

and Gianni Cazzola, American clarinetist/arranger

Tony Scott Anthony David Leighton Scott (21 June 1944 – 19 August 2012) was a British film director and producer. He made his theatrical film debut with ''The Hunger (1983 film), The Hunger'' (1983) and went on to direct highly successful action and t ...

, and Jamaican pianist Sonny Taylor, among others. After the 1990s, Foy lived in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez (born 1966) is a French multi-instrumentalist, composer, author and arranger. Biography Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez was born to a music-loving father and a hobbyist pianist mother. From the age of 5, he begins to study ...

, trumpeter François Chassagnite, drummers Laurent Sarrien and Yoann Serra, and bassists Bibi Rovère, Fabrice Bistoni, and Dodo Goya. Her last album, ''

Shirley Bunnie Foy (60th Anniversary) ''Shirley Bunnie Foy (60th Anniversary)'' is an album of American singer Shirley Bunnie Foy issued by MAP Golden Jazz label, June 2013. Description The album is, a tribute dedicated to jazz vocalist Shirley Bunnie Foy on occasion of her 60-yea ...

'', was dedicated to the singer on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of her career. The album was produced by

and Mad of Jazz and Claudio Citarella. It consists of 17 songs performed by Foy from 1954–2009 and features Tony Scott, Archie Shepp, Franco Cerri, Pierre Franzino, and Lou Bennett. Foy died from a heart attack in Nice on November 24, 2016.

Discography

As leader

* ''May-O'' (

BASF BASF SE (), an initialism of its original name , is a European Multinational corporation, multinational company and the List of largest chemical producers, largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters are located in Ludwigshafen, Ge ...

, 1974) * ''

'' (MAP Golden Jazz, 2013)

As guest

George Braith George Braith (born George Braithwaite on June 26, 1939) is a soul-jazz saxophonist from New York. Career Braith is known for playing multiple horns at once, a technique pioneered by Roland Kirk. He is credited with the invention of the Braithoph ...

– '' Musart'' (

Prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

1967) * Enrico Intra – ''Messa d'oggi'', (Ri-Fi/Golden Jazz, 1975) * Archie Shepp – '' A Sea of Faces'', (

Black Saint Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italy, Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History ...

, 1975) *

/Tony Scott – ''Franco, Tony e Pompeo'', (Mallobia, 1976) * Franco Cerri – ''Un Suo Modo de Dire'', (Dire, 1977) * Franco Cerri – ''Noi Duero'', (Mallobia, 1978) * Dodo Goya – ''1956/2006 Anniversary of The Jazz Festival at the Sanremo Casino'', (Splasc(h), 2006) * Jean-Sébastien Simonoviez – ''Transition Cosmic Power'', ( Black & Blue, 2007)

References

External links

AllMusicApple MusicDeezervolt.fmSpotify
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foy, Shirley 1936 births 2016 deaths American women jazz singers American jazz singers 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers Musicians from Manhattan People from Harlem Jazz musicians from New York (state) 21st-century African-American musicians 21st-century African-American women American expatriates in France