Blessed with a beautiful voice from an early age, Sue Raney
has performed music ranging from swinging jazz and ballads to
cabaret, middle-of-the-road pop and jingles. Her mother was a
singer and a great great aunt had been in German opera.
Raney started singing when she was four and a year later she
first performed in public, at a party in Wichita, Kansas.
Because a voice teacher could not be found for her daughter
(because of her extreme youth), Raney's mother took voice
lessons herself and then passed down what she learned to
Sue. A professional before she was a teenager, Raney worked
steadily in New Mexico when her family relocated and took
several trips out to Los Angeles during a couple of summer
vacations. She joined the Jack Carson radio show in 1954 in
L.A. when she was barely 14. Raney then appeared on Ray
Anthony's television program and became his band's main
vocalist. At 18 she started working as a single. She had
already recorded for Phillips and then signed with Capitol,
recording several middle-of-the-road jazz-influenced pop dates
for the company. In the 1960's Raney often appeared on
television variety shows, she led her own group and became
very active in the studios where her impressive voice helped
sell products. By the early 1980's, she was also working as a
voice teacher. In the 1990's Sue Raney has sung with the L.A.
Voices and Supersax, the Bill Watrous big band and as a
single in addition to staying active as a jazz educator and in
the studios. Her main jazz recordings were a trio of albums for
Discovery in the 1980's; a VSOP/Studio West CD features the
singer on various live performances from the 1960's.
Her latest album that was released in 2007 poignantly found
Raney returning to those very same studios at Capital that she
cut her first record.
"Heart's Desire: A Tribute to Doris Day" (2007) is accompanied
with a full orchestration (brass, reeds, rhythm & strings) and
arranged/conducted by the Grammy winning musician Alan
Broadbent. Released by the Spanish independent label Fresh
Sounds, it features a selection of Day tunes that on the whole
originate from Doris' years at Warner Brothers.
Raney's back catalog of albums originally released through
the 1960s - 1990s on Capitol Records, Imperial Records and
Discovery Records, have found a worldwide resurgence now
that much of it has been reissued and remastered on CD. She
has recorded albums with Stan Kenton, Nelson Riddle and Billy
May. Of her songwriting, Nancy Wilson has recorded her works.
has performed music ranging from swinging jazz and ballads to
cabaret, middle-of-the-road pop and jingles. Her mother was a
singer and a great great aunt had been in German opera.
Raney started singing when she was four and a year later she
first performed in public, at a party in Wichita, Kansas.
Because a voice teacher could not be found for her daughter
(because of her extreme youth), Raney's mother took voice
lessons herself and then passed down what she learned to
Sue. A professional before she was a teenager, Raney worked
steadily in New Mexico when her family relocated and took
several trips out to Los Angeles during a couple of summer
vacations. She joined the Jack Carson radio show in 1954 in
L.A. when she was barely 14. Raney then appeared on Ray
Anthony's television program and became his band's main
vocalist. At 18 she started working as a single. She had
already recorded for Phillips and then signed with Capitol,
recording several middle-of-the-road jazz-influenced pop dates
for the company. In the 1960's Raney often appeared on
television variety shows, she led her own group and became
very active in the studios where her impressive voice helped
sell products. By the early 1980's, she was also working as a
voice teacher. In the 1990's Sue Raney has sung with the L.A.
Voices and Supersax, the Bill Watrous big band and as a
single in addition to staying active as a jazz educator and in
the studios. Her main jazz recordings were a trio of albums for
Discovery in the 1980's; a VSOP/Studio West CD features the
singer on various live performances from the 1960's.
Her latest album that was released in 2007 poignantly found
Raney returning to those very same studios at Capital that she
cut her first record.
"Heart's Desire: A Tribute to Doris Day" (2007) is accompanied
with a full orchestration (brass, reeds, rhythm & strings) and
arranged/conducted by the Grammy winning musician Alan
Broadbent. Released by the Spanish independent label Fresh
Sounds, it features a selection of Day tunes that on the whole
originate from Doris' years at Warner Brothers.
Raney's back catalog of albums originally released through
the 1960s - 1990s on Capitol Records, Imperial Records and
Discovery Records, have found a worldwide resurgence now
that much of it has been reissued and remastered on CD. She
has recorded albums with Stan Kenton, Nelson Riddle and Billy
May. Of her songwriting, Nancy Wilson has recorded her works.
