LEATA GALLOWAY

Fri., July 19.  LEATA GALLOWAY.  Those who have been long-time Gardeniaphiles should be as excited as we are with the news that Leata Galloway returns to The Gardenia.  One of the elite performers at The Gardenia in the 1980’s, Miss Galloway and The Gardenia discovered each other during her engagement in Sophisticated Ladies at the Shubert Theatre.  Those who attended her Gardenia shows were privileged to have been in the audience—as were scouts from NBC who were as impressed as we were—and booked her on The Johnny Carson Show.  Attending one of her performances at The Gardenia, the brilliant late jazz critic Leonard Feather declared her a jazz singer “beyond category,” and she counts among her many impressive accomplishments having been in the original Broadway company of Hair, having sung “Electric Blues” on the film adaptation of Hair, having sung two songs on-screen in the film, Cotton Comes to Harlem, and having sung behind Peggy Lee on tour. Miss Galloway’s many recordings are gems worth seeking out—AND—she laughs, “having given up smoking, [my] voice is clearer and brighter than ever!  If only Mr. Feather could hear [me] now!”