Lurlean Hunter
Lurlean Hunter was an American contralto singer.
Early years
Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Hunter was taken to Chicago when she was two months old. She attended Englewood High School in Chicago.Career
Hunter's first paid singing performance came when she appeared with Red Saunders and his orchestra at Club DeLisa on Chicago's South Side. She was signed by Discovery Records in 1950.In 1951, Hunter was a featured performer with George Shearing and his quintet at Birdland in New York City. Later that year, she was among a group of "rising young stars of jazz" presented at the Streamliner night club in Chicago. Other Chicago venues at which she performed included the Club Silhouette and the Cloister Inn, where an initial four-week booking turned into a 2.5-year stay. Her work in other cities included singing at the Jazz Villa in St. Louis, the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, and the Circus Lounge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
In 1960, Hunter began recording for Atlantic, with "Blue & Sentimental" as her first album for that label. She had previously recorded for RCA Victor in 1956-1958.
In 1963, Hunter became the first African-American performer hired by WBBM radio in Chicago. After a successful on-air audition, she became a member of the staff of the all-live Music Wagon Show. On August 2, 1968, National Educational Television jazz broadcast featured Hunter, accompanied by the Vernel Fournier Trio, performing "ballads and blues, old and new".
Hunter made commercials for products such as peas and telephone directories.