Joya Sherrill

Joya Sherrill (August 20, 1924, Bayonne, New Jersey – June 28, 2010, Great Neck, New York) was an American jazz vocalist and children's television show host.)

Duke Ellington considered her one of his favorite singers. She began her career with Ellington in 1942 when she was seventeen. She had a hit with his song, "I'm Beginning to See the Light".

After the 1940s, Sherrill performed with Ray Nance and Rex Stewart, both former sideman for Ellington. She worked with Ellington again on the album A Drum Is a Woman (1956). Three years later, she toured the U.S., then played a role in The Long Dream on Broadway. She toured the USSR with Benny Goodman in 1962 and then sang again with Ellington the following year.

From 1970–82 she had a children's television show, Time for Joya, later called Joya's Fun School. During the 1980s she hosted a children's show in the Middle East.

She died from leukemia in 2010 at the age of 85.

Discography

As leader

• Sugar and Spice (1962)
• Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (20th Century Fox, 1965)
• Black Beauty, the Duke in Mind (1994)

As sideperson

With Duke Ellington

• Black, Brown and Beige (Columbia, 1943)
• The Carnegie Hall Concerts (January 1946) (Fantasy)
• Greatest Hits (RCA, 1996)

With Sammy Davis Jr.

• Sammy Davis Jr. Jumps with Joya, (Design/Pickwick)