# Ward Swingle > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ward_Swingle > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ward_Swingle.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Swingle > Source revision: 1330332888 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2011}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Ward Swingle | image = Ward Swingle (1964).jpg | caption = Swingle at Airport Schipol, Amsterdam, 1964 | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Ward Lamar Swingle | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|9|21|mf=y}} |birth_place = [Mobile](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama), [Alabama](/source/Alabama), United States | death_date = {{death date and age|2015|1|19|1927|9|21|mf=y}} |death_place = [Eastbourne](/source/Eastbourne), [Sussex](/source/Sussex), England | instrument = [Vocalist](/source/Human_voice), [piano](/source/piano) | genre = [Jazz](/source/Jazz), [vocal group](/source/vocal_group), [classical](/source/classical_music) | occupation = [Musician](/source/Musician), [arranger](/source/arrangement) | years_active = 1951-1990s | label = | associated_acts = [The Swingle Singers](/source/The_Swingle_Singers) | website = {{url|wardswingle.com}} }} '''Ward Lamar Swingle''' (September 21, 1927 – January 19, 2015) was an American [vocalist](/source/vocalist) and [jazz musician](/source/jazz_musician) who founded [The Swingle Singers](/source/The_Swingle_Singers) in France in 1962. ==Life and career== Born in [Mobile, Alabama](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama), Swingle studied music, particularly jazz, from a very young age. He learned clarinet, oboe and the piano as a child. He played in Mobile-area [big band](/source/big_band)s before finishing high school. Swingle continued his music studies at the [Cincinnati Conservatory of Music](/source/Cincinnati_Conservatory_of_Music), from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1950.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/ward-swingle-musician-who-made-bach-swing-dies-at-87/2015/01/20/9bd5e780-a0bd-11e4-903f-9f2faf7cd9fe_story.html | title=Ward Swingle, musician who made Bach swing, dies at 87 | newspaper=Washington Post | author=Adam Bernstein | date=2015-01-20 | access-date=2015-01-21}} He also met a French-born violin student, Françoise Demorest, and the couple married in 1952.{{cite news | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11357741/Ward-Swingle-jazz-vocalist-obituary.html | title=Ward Swingle, jazz vocalist - obituary | work=Telegraph | date=2015-01-20 | access-date=2015-01-21}} Swingle then moved to [France](/source/France) in 1951 on a [Fulbright scholarship](/source/Fulbright_scholarship), where he studied [piano](/source/piano) with [Walter Gieseking](/source/Walter_Gieseking) and also worked as a rehearsal pianist for ''Les Ballets de Paris''. In 1959, he was a founding member of [Les Double Six](/source/Les_Double_Six) of Paris, which specialised in [scat singing](/source/scat_singing) of jazz standards. Swingle subsequently applied the scat singing idea to the works of [Johann Sebastian Bach](/source/Johann_Sebastian_Bach).{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/ward-swingle-mn0000375892|title=Ward Swingle - Biography|author=Eugene Chadbourne|work=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)|access-date=January 20, 2015}} This concept was the foundation for [The Swingle Singers](/source/The_Swingle_Singers), which became fully established by 1962. The Swingle Singers released their albums ''Jazz Sebastian Bach'' and ''Bach's Greatest Hits'' in 1963. Their early recordings won five [Grammy Award](/source/Grammy_Award)s. Swingle disbanded the original Swingle Singers in 1973. He moved to [London](/source/London) and formed an English group, which variously had the names Swingle II and the New Swingle Singers. With the new group, he expanded the earlier group's repertoire to include classical and avant-garde works along with the scat and jazz vocal arrangements. In 1984, Swingle returned to live in America. Though he remained musical advisor for his London-based group, he devoted most of his time to workshops, guest conducting and the dissemination of his printed arrangements through his publishing company, Swingle Music. His pioneering ideas in new choral techniques produced invitations to conduct the Stockholm and Netherlands Chamber Choirs, the [Dale Warland](/source/Dale_Warland) Singers, the [Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir](/source/Sydney_Philharmonia_Choirs), the [BBC](/source/BBC) Northern Singers and the [MENC](/source/MENC%3A_The_National_Association_for_Music_Education) National Honors Choir at Kennedy Center. In the 2000s he gave a long series of workshops and seminars at universities in both Europe and North America. In March 1994, Swingle and his wife moved back to France, where he continued his work in arranging, composing and guest conducting. In 1997 he wrote an [autobiography](/source/autobiography) and [treatise](/source/treatise) entitled ''Swingle Singing,'' in which he defined 'Swingle Singing' techniques with illustrations from his arrangements and compositions. On February 20, 2004, Swingle was named ["Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres"](/source/Ordre_des_Arts_et_des_Lettres) (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the [French Minister of Culture and Information](/source/Minister_of_Culture_(France)). Swingle died in [Eastbourne](/source/Eastbourne), England, on 19 January 2015. His widow, their three children, and three grandchildren survived him. Françoise Swingle died in 2017.[http://slippedisc.com/2017/07/end-of-an-era-swingles-widow-has-died/ END OF AN ERA: SWINGLE’S WIDOW HAS DIED] ==See also== *[The Swingle Singers discography](/source/The_Swingle_Singers_discography) ==References== {{Reflist}} ==External links== * [http://www.wardswingle.com/ Official Ward Swingle website] * {{IMDb name|0842715}} * [http://www.mlfilms.com/productions/bach_project/ward_swingle Michael Lawrence Films, "Bach Project"] * [http://www.jazzhistoryonline.com/Swingle_Singers.html Biography of the Swingle Singers] {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Swingle, Ward}} Category:1927 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Musicians from Mobile, Alabama Category:American jazz singers Category:American male singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American expatriates in France Category:Jazz musicians from Alabama Category:American male jazz musicians Category:The Swingle Singers members Category:Les Double Six members --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ward Swingle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Swingle) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Swingle?action=history)). 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