Cheryl Bentyne (born Cheryl Benthien; January 17, 1954) is a jazz singer who spent much of her career with

The Manhattan Transfer The Manhattan Transfer was an American vocal group founded in 1969 in New York City, performing music genres like a cappella, Brazilian jazz, Swing music, swing, vocalese, rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, and standards. They have won eleven G ...

Early years

Bentyne started singing at age 13 with her father's

Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ( ...

and swing band. Following graduation from Mount Vernon High School, she enrolled at Skagit Valley College and studied music and theater. She moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

in the mid 1970s and sang with John Holte's New Deal Rhythm Band.retrieved May 31, 2017
/ref> The NDRB trombonist Gary McKaig gave her an album by the Manhattan Transfer. After four years in Seattle, she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

The Manhattan Transfer

In 1979, Bentyne became the permanent replacement for singer

Laurel Massé Laurel Massé (born December 29, 1951) is an American jazz singer and former member of The Manhattan Transfer. Career Massé was born in Holland, Michigan, grew up in Westchester County, New York, and lived in Europe during her teens. Early in s ...

, who left the group after being injured in an automobile accident. Her first appearance was on the album ''

Extensions Extension, extend or extended may refer to: Mathematics Logic or set theory * Axiom of extensionality * Extensible cardinal * Extension (model theory) * Extension (proof theory) * Extension (predicate logic), the set of tuples of values t ...

'' (1979), which won the group its first Grammy Award, Best Jazz Fusion Performance for a

vocalese Vocalese is a style of jazz singing in which words are added to an instrumental soloist's improvisation. Definition Vocalese uses recognizable lyrics that are sung to pre-existing instrumental solos, as opposed to scat singing, which uses nonsen ...

version of the song " Birdland" by

Weather Report Weather Report was an American jazz fusion band active from 1970 to 1986. The band was founded in 1970 by Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul, American saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Czech bassist Miroslav Vitouš, American drummer Alphonse Mouzon a ...

. She won ten Grammy Awards with the Manhattan Transfer, including awards for her arrangement of "Another Night in Tunisia" with

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, and conductor (music), conductor. His Vocal pedagogy, vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in Pitch (music), pitch—fo ...

and for writing the song "Sassy" for the album '' The Offbeat of Avenues''.

Solo career

Her debut solo album, ''Something Cool'' ( Columbia, 1992), was produced by trumpeter

Mark Isham Mark Ware Isham (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician and composer. A trumpeter and keyboardist, Isham works in a variety of genres, including jazz and electronic music, electronic. He is also a prolific and acclaimed composer of Film ...

and consisted of traditional pop and jazz standards. This was followed by ''Dreaming of Mister Porter'' (2000), a tribute to

Cole Porter Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway the ...

; ''Talk of the Town'' (2004) with

Kenny Barron Kenneth Barron (born June 9, 1943) is an American jazz pianist and composer who has appeared on hundreds of recordings as leader and sideman and is considered one of the most influential mainstream jazz pianists since the bebop era. Early life ...

David "Fathead" Newman David "Fathead" Newman (February 24, 1933 – January 20, 2009) was an American jazz and rhythm-and-blues saxophonist, who made numerous recordings as a session musician and leader, but is best known for his work as a sideman on seminal 1950s an ...

Chuck Mangione Charles Frank Mangione ( ; born November 29, 1940) is an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter and composer. He came to prominence as a member of Art Blakey's band in the 1960s, and later co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap Mangione, ...

; and ''Let Me Off Uptown'' (2005), a tribute to

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self-proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appe ...

. While still a member of the Manhattan Transfer, she recorded the album ''Duets'' with bassist

Rob Wasserman Rob Wasserman (April 1, 1952 – June 29, 2016) was an American composer and bass player. A Grammy Award and NEA grant winner, he played and recorded with a wide variety of musicians including Bob Weir, Bruce Cockburn, Elvis Costello, Ani di ...

. In 1991, she collaborated with Mark Isham on a song for the soundtrack to the film '' Mortal Thoughts''. Bentyne left music in 2012 due to illness. Her spleen was removed and she was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

. Margaret Dorn replaced her in the Manhattan Transfer. Within a year, a doctor told her she was free of cancer, and she returned to singing. In 2013, she narrated an audiobook version of the best-selling book ''Little Girl Blue'', a biography of singer

Karen Carpenter Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and early drummer of the highly successful duo the Carpenters, formed with her older brother Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard. Wi ...

. In 2014, she was a judge and mentor for the Songbook Academy, a summer program for high school students operated by the Great American Songbook Foundation founded by

Michael Feinstein Michael Jay Feinstein (born September 7, 1956) is an American singer, pianist, and music Revivalist artist, revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Spec ...

Awards and honors

* Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance, Vocal or Instrumental, "Birdland" (from ''Extensions''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1980; "Until I Met You (Corner Pocket)" (from ''Mecca for Moderns''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1981 * Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Duo or Group, "Route 66" (from the soundtrack ''Sharkey's Machine''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1982; "Why Not!" (from ''Bodies and Souls''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1983; ''Vocalese'', The Manhattan Transfer, 1985 * Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group, ''Brasil''; The Manhattan Transfer, 1987; "The Boy from New York City" (from ''Mecca for Moderns''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1981 * Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices, "Another Night in Tunisia" (from ''Vocalese''), Cheryl Bentyne and Bobby McFerrin, arrangers, 1985 * Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance, "Sassy" (from ''The Offbeat of Avenues''), The Manhattan Transfer, 1992 * Honorary Doctorate of Music from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

, 1993 * Golden Disc Award, ''Swing Journal'': ''Talk of the Town'', 2003; ''Waltz for Debby'', 2004; ''Songs of Our Time'', 2008

Discography

* ''Something Cool'' (Columbia, 1992) * ''Dreaming of Mister Porter'' (released through Manhattan Transfer Fan Club, 2000) * ''Talk of The Town'' (Paddle Wheel, 2002) * ''The Lights Still Burn'' (Paddle Wheel, 2003) * ''Moonlight Serenade'' (King, 2003) * ''Cheryl Bentyne Sings Waltz for Debby'' (Paddle Wheel, 2004) * ''Let Me Off Uptown'' (Telarc, 2005) * ''The Book of Love'' (Telarc, 2006) * ''Songs of Our Time'' (Paddle Wheel, 2008) * ''The Cole Porter Songbook'' (Paddle Wheel, 2009) * ''The Gershwin Songbook'' (ArtistShare, 2010) * ''Let's Misbehave: The Cole Porter Songbook'' (Summit, 2012) reissue of the 2009 album * ''West Coast Cool'' with Mark Winkler (Summit, 2013) * ''Lost Love Songs'' (Summit, 2016) compilation of ''The Lights Still Burn'', ''Moonlight Serenade'', and ''Songs of Our Time'' * ''ReArrangements of Shadows'' (ArtistShare, 2017) * ''Eastern Standard Time'' with Mark Winkler (Café Pacific, 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentyne, Cheryl 1954 births American women jazz singers American jazz singers Living people People from Mount Vernon, Washington The Manhattan Transfer members Jazz musicians from Washington (state) 21st-century American women Telarc Records artists Columbia Records artists Summit Records artists King Records (Japan) artists ArtistShare artists