Jackie Cain

Jackie Cain and Roy Kral at Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, Half Moon Bay CA, 1982.

Jacqueline Ruth "Jackie" Cain (May 22, 1928 – September 15, 2014) was an American jazz vocalist, known for her partnership with her husband Roy Kral, as the team Jackie and Roy. Douglas Martin of The New York Times described them as "the most famous vocal duo in jazz history". She was the sister-in-law of singer Irene Kral (d. 1978).

Life and career

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Cain was the daughter of an office furniture salesman who also managed a community theater. After her parents' divorce, she and her mother, who took a job with a photo-imaging company, moved to a rooming house. Cain first became interested in music through listening to the radio and performing in the chorus at her elementary school. While in high school she performed in an a cappella chorus during the school day and began performing on a children’s radio show and with a band organized by a local music store in Milwaukee.

At the age of 17, Cain accepted her first full-time job in music as a singer with Jay Burkhart’s band. In 1947, at the age of 19, she was introduced to Roy Kral by Bob Anderson, a fellow member of the Burkhart band. The two soon began performing together in clubs in Chicago, and in 1949 they married. The two went on to record nearly 40 albums for multiple record labels including Columbia Records and Verve Records, among other labels.

Cain died in Montclair, New Jersey , in September 2014 of complications from a stroke she had in 2010.

Discography

See also: Jackie and Roy Discography

• So Many Stars (Audiophile, 2000)

With Don Sebesky

• Giant Box (CTI, 1973)

Literature

• Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD, sixth Edition, London, Penguin, 2002