Joan Shaw

Born in 1930 in Newport News, Virginia, hometown of Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey, she began singing in amateur programs when she was 13. In December 1947 she made her recording debut as a featured jazz vocalist singing 'Rain in My Eyes' with the Buddy Tate Orchestra. From 1949 on she toured and recorded with different groups during the R&B era including Paul Williams, Billy Ford, and Danny Small. Eminent jazz critic Leonard Feather hailed her as “one of the most promising singers in the United States,” and in 1961, surrounded by fine jazzmen, she recorded her first album “Sings for Swingers,” for Epic Records. She played some of the best clubs on the contemporary circuit, recording “Joan Shaw in Person,” a live album with the Herman Foster Trio. In 1965 she moved to Europe, reinvented herself as Salena Jones, and went on to enjoy a long, successful career.