Judy Niemack
Judy Niemack is an American jazz vocalist.
Early life
Judy Niemack was born in Pasadena, California to a musical family. She began singing in a church choir from the age of seven. Niemack decided on a professional career in singing at age 17 and studied Bel canto singing with Primo Lino Puccinelli in Pasadena for 3 years. She studied classical voice and jazz improvisation with Gary Foster at Pasadena City College, and later attended the New England Conservatory of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. After pursuing classical studies until 1975, she returned to California to study jazz improvisation with Marsh. Niemack eventually moved to New York City in 1977, her first major engagement was a week at the Village Vanguard, singing in Warne Marsh's band.Professional career
Her debut album, By Heart was recorded in New York City and released in 1977; since then she has recorded 12 albums under her own name in addition to working with Toots Thielemans, James Moody, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry, Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch, Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Eddie Gómez and the WDR Big Band.In 1987, while living in New York, Niemack met guitarist Jeanfrançois Prins; the two would eventually marry in 1998. In 1992 Niemack relocated to Brussels and taught vocal jazz in the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp, and the Royal Conservatory of the Hague. The couple recorded several CDs together and performed together extensively. In 1995 the couple moved to Berlin, where she became the first Professor of Jazz Voice in Germany, teaching at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" and also establishing the vocal jazz program at Musikene, the Basque School of Higher Music, in San Sebastian, Spain. The couple eventually divorced in 2016.