Lucy Reed

{{for|the American lawyer and scholar|Lucy Reed (lawyer)}}{{Infobox person | name = Lucy Reed | image = upright=1.2|center | other_names = Lucy Reed Seymour | birth_name = Lucille Magdalyn Dollinger | birth_date = January 14, 1921 | birth_place = Marshfield, Wisconsin, U.S. | death_date = July 1, 1998 (age 77) | death_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | occupation = Jazz singer | spouse = {{Plainlist| *Joseph Alphonse "Joey" DeRidder (m. 1941-1944; his death, 1 child) *Serge Seymour (m. 1957, div. 1968, 2 children) }} | children = {{Plainlist| *Jeffrey DeRidder (born 1942) *Ted *Steven }} | parents = {{Plainlist| *Max Dollinger *Elizabeth Shields }} | website = https://lucyreed.com/ }} '''Lucy Reed''' (January 14, 1921 – July 1, 1998), born '''Lucille Magdalyn Dollinger''', was an American jazz and blues singer, active in the Chicago jazz scene in the 1950s.<ref name="Inc.1953">{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YgoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA61|accessdate=August 10, 2012|date=24 October 1953|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=61|issn=0006-2510}}</ref><ref name="Inc.1956">{{cite book|title=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qh8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA1-PA26|accessdate=August 10, 2012|date=March 24, 1956|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|page=26|issn=0006-2510}}</ref>

== Early life == Reed was born in Marshfield, Wisconsin, the daughter of Max Dollinger, (June 7, 1899 - October 4, 1995), a machine operator from Germany and Elizabeth Shields Dollinger (later Jetty) (March 21, 1899 - July 7, 1987). Her parents divorced in 1934, and later remarried.<ref>1930, 1940, and 1950 United States censuses, via Ancestry.</ref> As a teenager attending Humboldt High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, Reed sang on KSTP radio with a group of four girls, earning $5 per week.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Reich |first=Howard |date=July 2, 1998 |title=Lucy Reed; sang jazz in top Chicago clubs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-lucy-reed-sang-jazz-in/175293406/ |access-date=June 25, 2025 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=242 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

== Career == Reed gained a reputation in the Chicago jazz scene, singing with bands such as the Woody Herman orchestra and the Charlie Ventura orchestra.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=1998-07-02 |title=LUCY REED; SANG JAZZ IN TOP CHICAGO CLUBS |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/07/02/lucy-reed-sang-jazz-in-top-chicago-clubs/ |access-date=2026-05-14 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> She also performed at various venues such as the Lei Aloha Club in Chicago, Mister Kelly's in Chicago, and the Village Vanguard in New York City.<ref name=":0" /> She also sang with the Jerry Salone Orchestra in Michigan.<ref>{{Cite news |date=June 21, 1941 |title=Dutch Mill Ninth Anniversary Dance (advertisement) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-escanaba-daily-press-dutch-mill-nint/175294210/ |access-date=June 25, 2025 |work=The Escanaba Daily Press |pages=2 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> She met her first husband, jazz drummer Joey DeRidder, while living in Iron Mountain, Michigan, performing with his musical group, the Joey DeRidder Orchestra.<ref name=":0" /> In 1955, she performed with Bill Evans in New York City, in Miami in 1956,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Garrett |first=June |date=August 8, 1956 |title=Miami |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_down-beat_1956-08-08_23_16/page/36/mode/2up?q=%22Lucy+Reed%22+ |journal=Down Beat |volume=23 |issue=16 |pages=36 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> and with Dick Marx and Johnny Frigo in 1957.<ref>{{cite web |last=Henderson |first=Alex |title=Lucy Reed |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lucy-reed-mn0000837831 |accessdate=August 10, 2012 |publisher=All Music}}</ref>

A 1956 reviewer in ''Down Beat'' described Reed as "a singer who may possess too much innate feeling for lyrics, and honesty in delivery, ever to have a hit record, but who should be able to cultivate a flock of enthusiastic listeners."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=May 16, 1956 |title=Lucy Reed |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_down-beat_1956-05-16_23_10/page/18/mode/2up?q=%22Lucy+Reed%22+ |journal=Down Beat |volume=23 |issue=10 |pages=18 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

== Personal life and death == Reed married Joseph Alphonse DeRidder in June 1941, giving birth to a son, Jeffrey, born in 1942. DeRidder was killed in action while co-piloting a B-17 over Munich, Germany on July 31, 1944. She married her second husband, Serge Seymour, in 1957; they had two sons, Steven and Ted. After her retirement from professional singing, Reed continued to do occasional singing performances until her death in 1998 from cancer at the age of 77.<ref name=":1" /> Chicago jazz musicians including Audrey Morris and Frank D'Rone came to her deathbed, to sing to her in her final hours.<ref name=":0" />

==Discography== * ''The Singing Reed'' (Fantasy, 1957)<ref>{{Citation |last=Lucy Reed |title=The Singing Reed |date=1956 |url=http://archive.org/details/lp_the-singing-reed_lucy-reed |access-date=2025-06-25 |others=Internet Archive |publisher=Fantasy}}</ref> * ''This Is Lucy Reed'' (Fantasy, 1957)<ref>{{Citation |last=Lucy Reed |title=This Is Lucy Reed |date=2001 |url=http://archive.org/details/cd_this-is-lucy-reed_lucy-reed |access-date=2025-06-25 |others=Internet Archive |publisher=Original Jazz Classics}}</ref> * ''Basic Reeding'' (Audiophile, 1994)<ref>{{Citation |last=Lucy Reed |title=Basic Reeding |date=1992 |url=http://archive.org/details/cd_basic-reeding_lucy-reed |access-date=2025-06-25 |others=Internet Archive |publisher=Audiophile Records}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{AllMusic|id=0000837831}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Lucy}} Category:1921 births Category:1998 deaths Category:American jazz singers Category:American women jazz singers Category:People from Marshfield, Wisconsin Category:Singers from Wisconsin Category:20th-century American singers Category:20th-century American women singers