Happy Birthday to Two of My Favorite Singers: Mariah Carey & Sarah Vaughan

Two of my favorite singers in the world share the same birthday. There has to be some irony in that!

Both put their entire body and soul into everything they sang and made me want to work hard to not only sing songs I love, but to understand some of the methodologies and theories behind music and I am thankful for that.

One of the two is Mariah Carey. She came into my life when I was in the fifth grade and I became mesmerized with her instrument. At one point in my life, my entire repertoire was comprised of Mariah Carey songs. I love her voice and her music. The second is Sarah Vaughan. Her timbre is amazing, and she just has this incredible way with her voice. My Ipod currently has more Sarah Vaughan tunes in it than any other artist and she is who I listen to the most. Happy birthday to Mariah Carey and to Sarah Vaughan.

Stephanie Jeannot as Sarah Vaughan

Earlier this month, I wrote a short one-act play which I entitled “And Then There Were the Ladies of Jazz” which went into production as a women’s History Month tribute at the Roosevelt Public Library in Roosevelt, NY. I played the role of both Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan which for me was wonderful because I was happy to be able to honor two jazz vocalist who I absolutely love while also sharing some historical data with the crowd before me that I felt was important for people to know; especially for those who did not know about the identities of these international women in jazz and how their roles in music played a role in the racial order or the time.

I want to share a short video clip from the show, where I rendered a cover of the song that Sarah Vaughan sang which was somewhat of the Genesis to her career entitled "Body & Soul" which she sung and won the Amateur Night at the Apollo contest and became who the world came to know as The Divine One. Hopefully you will watch it and enjoy what you hear as much as I enjoyed embracing it on stage with Charles Bartlett on trumpet, Daniel Dalelio on piano, Herb Lewis on Saxophone, Napoleon Revels-Bey on drums and Rachiim Sahu on bass.  

Thank you so much for checking out my blogpost. Have a phenomenal day!