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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZSHERRILL, Joya(b 20 August 1924, Bayonne NJ; d 28 June 2010, Great Neck NY) Vocalist with Duke Ellington. While in high school she wrote words for Billy Strayhorn's 'Take The "A" Train', which had become the band's theme; her father arranged it, and arranged an audition at which she sang it for Duke, who offered her a job when she graduated. The records she made with Duke in 1944-5 effectively made a beautiful suite of songs about an erotic love affair: 'I'm Beginning To See The Light' was a top ten hit with lyrics by Don George; 'I Didn't Know About You' (words by Bob Russell) is tender; Strayhorn's ecstatic arrangement of Harold Rome's '(All Of A Sudden) My Heart Sings' is followed by 'Kissing Bug' (co-written by Strayhorn and Sherrill: her man is playing around): with 'Everything But You' (Ellington and Don George) the affair is over. For good measure, Sherrill's recordings of 'Long, Strong And Consecutive' (words by Mack David) and 'I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart' (Irving Mills and Henry Nemo) could be added to the sequence. She left the band to attend Wilberforce U, came back, then left again to get married (she was married to Richard Guilmenot until he died in 1989). But she never really left the band, she said in 1979: 'Duke would call me for jobs once a year at least.' She appeared on his album A Drum is a Woman '56 and in the US Steel Hour TV production of that music the following year, and in his My People '63. She toured the USSR with Benny Goodman in 1962, wowed the natives by singing in Russian ('Katusha' was apparently pressed on a Reprise single), and Goodman responded by featuring her less (he didn't like competition in the limelight). She released solo albums Sugar and Spice '62 and Joya Sherrill Sings Duke '64; she was the first African-American to host a children's TV show, in New York in the 1970s (Luther Henderson was the music director, Duke was a guest), and a final album was Black Beauty: The Duke in Mind '94. |