Vaughan, Sarah (Lois)

(born March 27, 1924, Newark, N.J., U.S.—died April 3, 1990, Hidden Hills, Calif.) U.S. jazz singer. Vaughan won an amateur contest at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in 1942 and soon joined Earl Hines's big band as vocalist and second pianist. Joining Billy Eckstine's band in 1944, she gained exposure to the new bebop style; she was especially influenced by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and recorded with them in 1945. Alternating between popular song and jazz, she worked as a soloist for the rest of her career. A vast range and wide vibrato in the service of her harmonic sensitivity enabled Vaughan to use her voice with a seemingly instrumental approach, often improvising as a jazz soloist.

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