Myra Taylor

Myra Taylor (February 24, 1917 – December 9, 2011) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. She began performing as a teenager and continued into her nineties.

Early life Myra Jardine Render, later Taylor, was born in Bonner Springs, Kansas, but her family moved to Kansas City, Missouri's historic 18th and Vine area when she was a child. Working as a housekeeper at age 14, she began dancing at the Sunset and Reno clubs on 12th street. Being underage, she entered some clubs by sneaking in through a rear window and eventually attracted attention singing.

Acting career Taylor appeared as the character Pearl in three episodes of the US television program The Jeffersons - The Arrival (Part 1) and The Arrival (Part 2) in 1980 and Men of the Cloth in 1982

She was the lead in the 1979 women's professional basketball comedy Scoring, as well as supporting roles in Suspect, Crossing Delancey, Lasse Hallström's Once Around, and Ron Howard's The Paper.

Music career In the 1930s, she toured the Midwest with Clarence Love's band. She moved to Chicago in 1937 and worked with Warren "Baby" Dodds, Lonnie Johnson, Roy Eldridge and Lil Hardin Armstrong. but was denied royalties by publisher Blasco Music, who claimed that despite the record being a "smash" there were no profits. performing in 32 different countries. In 1977, she moved back to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California, to work in film and television, and in 1994 relocated back to her native Kansas City.

In 2000, she recorded My Night to Dream for Analogue Production Originals records and released it on the very inauspicious date of September 11, 2001. It was re-released on SACD in 2010.

Taylor continued singing, performing with the group Wild Women of Kansas City but the only recording with the group was at the Pilgrim Chapel on September 26, 2010. A CD is available from the venue, featuring tracks including Sentimental Journey, What a Wonderful World, and Minnie the Moocher.

She celebrated her 94th birthday with a concert at Knuckleheads Saloon with Samantha Fish and Mike Zito.

Taylor's final performance was July 24, 2011 with the Wild Women of Kansas City at Jardine's nightclub in Kansas City. She spent the final three months of her life at Kansas City's Swope Ridge Geriatric Center.

Discography Albums Kansas City Jump: Swingin Small Combos (Blue Moon Imports, 2007) My Night to Dream (Analogue Production Originals, 2001)

Singles Move Out/Quit Barking In My Rhubarb (Mercury) Clinging Vine/It's a Sin to Tell a Lie (Mercury) I'm in My Sins This Morning/Booted (Mercury)

Compilations Thorens 125th Anniversary LP – Spider and the Fly (2008) Radio Radio: Theme Time Radio Hour Volume Two- Still Blue Water (2009)