Toni Harper (June 8, 1937 – February 10, 2023), also known as Toni Dunlap, was an American former child singer who retired from performing at the age of 29. After learning dance under Maceo Anderson, Harper was cast by the choreographer

Nick Castle Nicholas Castle (born September 21, 1947 in Kingsport, Tennessee) is an American screenwriter, film director, and actor. He is known for playing Michael Myers (Halloween), Michael Myers in John Carpenter's horror film ''Halloween (1978 film), H ...

in ''Christmas Follies'', at the

Wilshire Ebell Theatre The Ebell of Los Angeles is a women-led and women-centered nonprofit housed in a historic campus in the Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, California, Mid-Wilshire section of Los Angeles, California. It includes numerous performance spaces, meeting rooms ...

in 1945. She later went on to perform on stage with

Herb Jeffries Herb Jeffries (born Umberto Alexander Valentino; September 24, 1913 – May 25, 2014) was an American actor of film and television and popular music and jazz singer-songwriter, known for his baritone voice. He starred in several low-budget "ra ...

and

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

. Harper performed at the third annual

Cavalcade of Jazz The Cavalcade of Jazz events were large outdoor jazz festivals held annually between 1945 and 1958 in Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, California, U.S. They were the first such large-scale events and were produced by an African American, Leon Hefflin, ...

concert held at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

in Los Angeles produced by Leon Hefflin Sr. on September 7, 1947.

Woody Herman Woodrow Charles Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roo ...

, The Valdez Orchestra, The Blenders,

T-Bone Walker Aaron Thibeaux "T-Bone" Walker (May 28, 1910 – March 16, 1975) was an American blues musician, composer, songwriter and bandleader, who was a pioneer and innovator of the jump blues, West Coast blues, and electric blues sounds. In 2018 ''R ...

Slim Gaillard Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 9, 1911 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singing ...

The Honeydrippers The Honeydrippers were an English rock and roll band of the 1980s. Former Led Zeppelin lead singer Robert Plant formed the group in 1981 to satisfy his long-time goal of having a rock band with a heavy rhythm and blues basis. Formed originally ...

Sarah Vaughan Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...

and the Three Blazers also performed that same day. She came back to perform for the eighth

concert on June 1, 1952. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and His Mighty Men, Anna Mae Winburn and Her Sweethearts,

Jerry Wallace Jerry Leon Wallace (December 15, 1928 – May 5, 2008) was an American country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may r ...

Louis Jordan Louis Thomas Jordan (July 8, 1908 – February 4, 1975) was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the King ...

Jimmy Witherspoon James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, an ...

, and

Josephine Baker Freda Josephine Baker (; June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), naturalized as Joséphine Baker, was an American and French dancer, singer, and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in France. She was the first Black woman to s ...

. Harper recorded "Candy Store Blues" in 1946, which became a

platinum record Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

, appeared twice on ''Toast of the Town'' (later

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

) in 1949, and made her third and final appearance on the show in 1950. After success as a child singer, Harper recorded her first album, ''

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe. In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...

'', for

Verve Records Verve Records is an active American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Ca ...

in 1955, with the

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

trio. She made two further albums, arranged by

Marty Paich Martin Louis Paich (January 23, 1925 – August 12, 1995) was an American pianist, composer, arranger, record producer, music director, and conductor. As a musician and arranger he worked with jazz musicians Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Kento ...

, ''Lady Lonely'' (1959) and ''Night Mood'' (1960), for

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

. Harper toured Japan with

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the 1966 soul ...

in 1963, and appeared in the film ''

How to Stuff a Wild Bikini ''How to Stuff a Wild Bikini'' is a 1965 Pathécolor beach party film from American International Pictures. The sixth entry in a seven-film series, the movie was directed by William Asher and features Mickey Rooney, Annette Funicello, Dwayn ...

'' (1965),
before retiring from performing in 1966. Toni Harper died on February 10, 2023, near her home in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

. She was 85 years old.

Discography

* 1956 ''

'' (with the

trio) * 1957 ''Here Come The Girls!'' (with The Buddy Bregman Orchestra) * 1959 ''Lady Lonely'' (with

& Orchestra) * 1960 ''Night Mood'' (with Marty Paich & Orchestra) * 1988 ''Candy Store Blues'' (compilation) With

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

* ''

Jazz Recital ''Jazz Recital'' (also released as ''Dizzy Gillespie and His Orchestra'') is an album by the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, recorded in 1954 and 1955 and released on the Norgran label. It consists of quintet, sextet and jazz orchestra tracks.

'' ( Norgran, 1955) With

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

*"Baby Blues" and "Peculiar Kind Of Feeling" on Columbia 39390 (1951) *" Blacksmith Blues" and "Don't Send Me Home" on Columbia 39671 (1952) *"Melancholy Trumpet" on Columbia 39846 (1952) *"Fruit Cake" on Columbia 39877 (1952)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Toni 1937 births 2023 deaths African-American women singers American jazz singers American child singers Columbia Records artists American women jazz singers Jubilee Records artists RCA Records artists Singers from Los Angeles American torch singers Traditional pop music singers Verve Records artists Jazz musicians from California