June Richmond

Biography

June Richmond (July 9, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois – August 14, 1962 in Gothenburg, Sweden) was an American jazz singer and actor. June Richmond is considered the first African-American jazz singer who sang regularly in a white band when she appeared in 1938, with Jimmy Dorsey's Orchestra, with whom she recorded several sides for Decca Records. After she left Andy Kirk, she launched a successful career as a soloist; in 1946, she had a featured role in the Broadway musical Are You With It? Her first recordings under her own name originated in 1945 when she signed with Mercury Records, releasing several singles, including two songs from her Broadway musical "Are You With It?" She also recorded a series of 45 EP albums for the Odeon, Barclay and Varga labels and a 10" LP of eight songs from Porgy and Bess sung in French.

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