Music
Teri Thornton
1934–2000 · jazz singer, pianist, composer
Detroit-born jazz singer and pianist, praised by Ella Fitzgerald and Cannonball Adderley, who sang the Naked City theme and made a celebrated comeback in the late 1990s.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Englewood, New Jersey
aged 65- Birth name
- Shirley Enid Avery
- Detroit years
- 1934–late 1950s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Shirley Avery grew up in Detroit, the only child of a Pullman porter and a choir director who hosted a local radio show; She picked out boogie-woogie and bebop on the piano by ear from about the age of three, listened closely to Detroit pianists Barry Harris and Tommy Flanagan, and as a teenager sang in choirs, amateur contests and Monday night jam sessions. After high school she worked for several years as a singer-pianist in Detroit clubs, then moved to New York at the end of the 1950s and signed with Riverside. Cannonball Adderley called her the best voice since Ella Fitzgerald, and Fitzgerald named her a favorite. Her song "Somewhere in the Night" became the theme of the TV series Naked City, but poor management, alcoholism and a changing industry stalled her career. In 1998 she won the Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition, and Verve released I'll Be Easy to Find in 1999. She is buried at Detroit Memorial Park East.
Highlights
- Sang in Detroit clubs before signing with Riverside Records
- "Somewhere in the Night" became the theme of TV's Naked City
- Won the Thelonious Monk Institute vocal competition (1998)
- Comeback album I'll Be Easy to Find (Verve, 1999)
- Buried at Detroit Memorial Park East, Warren
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 2000
Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery
Warren cemetery (Detroit Memorial Park East) where Thornton was buried in 2000.