Andy Bey, Jazz Singer Renowned for His Vocal Range, Dies at 85

Andy Bey, a jazz singer, pianist and composer whose rich and rich baritone and vocal rank of four octaves placed him among the best interpreters of the US songbook from Nat King Cole, his role was 85 years old.

His nephew, Darius de Haas, confirmed death, in a retreat house.

The life of Mr. Bey in Jazz covered about 60 years, since his early days as a prodigy child singing in Newark and in the Apollo Theater in Manhattan, to a streak of albums and leges tours that kept him active well.

The great scope of his voice and his expert control over it could surprise the public. Not only could it climb a deep baritone to a clear tenor, but it could also do it while jumping in front of the rhythm, or decreases the speed behind him, giving the songs just like his personal seal.

In a typical show, I could start singing and touch the piano, along with a bass and drums, then change between them, sometimes singing without piano, sometimes touching the piano alone.

Much in his 70 years, Mr. Bey had a dominant and convincing voice, projecting from his baby face under his exclusive pork hat, a look that made him look younger than his years.

It was a rarity, a black man singing jazz, a field in which women had long dominated with white singers such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

“Much of what it is not because singing ballads because it exposes your vulnerability,” he told Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2001. “It seems that male singers are not supposed to show that a female singer can show.

Mr. Bey went far beyond jazz, in loop in blues, R&B and Soul, either by making standards or their own compositions. Later in his career, he became known for his interpretation of “River Man” (1969) by British popular rock musician Nick Drake.

He liked to say that he had four races, one after another. First, as a solo child artist, then as a third of Andy and the Bey sisters, with their sisters Geraldine and Salome.

After that, he played with a series of jazz artists before leaving on his own with “Experience and Judgment” (1973), which Soul and Jazz reported, and seemed to announce the arrival of a new important talent.

Then it almost disappeared. He worked with jazz artists such as Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver, and spent long periods in Europe.

It was not until 1996 that he released his next solo album in the United States, “Ballads, Blues & Bey”. By then, the industry had greatly forgotten: 25 record companies rejected it before the evidence, a small jazz seal, said yes. (In 1991, he recorded an album called “As Time Goes by”, in Jazzette, a Yugoslavio seal).

“Ballads” was a success and led to a professional rebirth. Mr. Bey had not lost anything of his vocal range; In any case, his voice had tasks in a soft patina. He launched seven more albums on the next 18 years, Nominations for Recon-Grammy and became a fixed element in the global jazz club circuit.

“The attention is not surprised, because I think I deserve it,” he told the Inquirador of Philadelphia in 1999. “But I didn’t realize that I would receive so much attention. I have accumulated an acquired cult and Culty Calars Cults will carry me.”

Andrew Wideman Bey Jr. was born on October 28, 1939 in Newark. His father, a window washing machine born in Andrew Wideman, was adherent to the Temple of Sciences of America, a branch of Islam, and followed his practice of adopting Bey as a rescue. His son kept his last name but did not share his father’s faith.

His mother, Victoria (Johnson) Wideman, raised Andy and his eight older brothers.

His sister Geraldine (Bey) of Haas survives.

At 3 years, Andy was already teaching to play Boogie-Woogie Piano, and the 8 was singing shows with the saxophonist Hank Mobley. His song in places around Newark caught the attention of record stamps, and launched his first solo album, “Mama’s Little’s Got the Blues”, when he was 13 years old, in 1952.

I was not doubtful of supernatural talent, but it was also surrounded by a musical family and a very close community in Newark that produced jazz stars such as singer Sarah Vughan and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Mr. Bey accredited his high vocal rank to his career of a decade with his sisters, he thought he also closely modeled his style in Vauruhan and Nat King Cole.

“I would never be tired of the composition,” he told St. Louis Post-Disatch in 2001. “King Nat Cole was one of my idols and a great influence. He is still the one indicated for me.”

Just before launching “Balladas, Blues and Bey”, Mr. Bey revealed that she was gay. He never had his sexuality, but decided to advertise him after discovering that he was HIV positive.

In a way, his sexuality only joined his uniqueness as a black and major male singer in that. His age, he said, made his actions more persuasive.

“You have to be a child to leave if you are going to make someone create something,” South Florida Sun-Unel told South in 2005. All those components that help make good music. “