* En anglais uniquement
Although she has flown most of it under the commercial radar, jazz vocalist and songwriter
Kelly Harland has had a long and versatile career as a singer.
Harland's father was a jazz drummer and she grew up in L.A. listening to his favorite vocalists, a list that included
Lena Horne,
Nat King Cole,
Peggy Lee,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Sarah Vaughan, and
Frank Sinatra, among others, while her mother was a collector of Broadway and movie musical soundtracks, so
Harland received a good grounding in the vocal classics. She also fell under the spell of folk and rock, and by the early '70s
Harland was writing her own songs, inspired by artists like
Carole King and
Joni Mitchell. After passing a demo tape to
King backstage at one of
King's L.A. shows,
Harland began singing backup vocals in studio sessions for such performers as
the Beach Boys,
Merry Clayton, and
Jennifer Warnes, and soon became a veteran session singer, working on countless projects and commercials. She relocated to Seattle where she joined the pop/rock group Lazy Racer, recording two albums with them in London for A&M Records, both produced by
Glyn Johns. When the band split,
Harland returned to Seattle, singing and gigging with Annie Rose & the Thrillers. She caught the ear of
Charlie Daniels, who helped her get a deal with Epic Records, and she recorded a debut album, simply called Kelly Harland, for the label but it was poorly promoted and distributed and she left Epic to release a series of independent albums, including 2002's
Twelve Times Romance and 2008's
Long Ago and Far Away: Kelly Harland Sings Jerome Kern. Married to jazz bassist
Chuck Deardorf, who also doubles as her producer,
Harland is a regular on the Seattle jazz scene. She also branched out into record production herself, including steering through two albums by singer Michelle Wallis.
Harland became a published author in 2002 when her book A Will of His Own: Reflections on Parenting a Child with Autism was published. ~ Steve Leggett