History

Lorraine Feather was born in Manhattan. Her father was jazz writer Leonard Feather

Leonard Feather

Leonard Geoffrey Feather was a British-born jazz pianist, composer, and producer who was best known for his music journalism and other writing.-Biography:...

; her mother Jane was a former big band singer and ex-roommate of singer Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee

Peggy Lee was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress in a career spanning six decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, she forged a sophisticated persona, evolving into a multi-faceted artist and...

. Feather was named after her godmother Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

 but she began using her middle name "Lorraine" while in grade school.

Her husband is Tony Morales, formerly a drummer for artists such as The Rippingtons, David Benoit and Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones

Rickie Lee Jones is an American vocalist, musician, songwriter, and producer. Over the course of a three-decade career, Jones has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, blues, pop, soul, and jazz standards.-Childhood:...

. The couple moved from Los Angeles to Half Moon Bay, CA at the beginning of this period. In 2007 they relocated to the San Juan Islands in Washington State.

Feather began working in television as a lyricist in 1992 and has received seven Emmy nominations. Her lyrics for children include Disney’s Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs (TV series)

Dinosaurs is an American family sitcom that was originally broadcast on ABC from April 26, 1991 to July 20, 1994. The show, about a family of anthropomorphic dinosaurs, was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions and Jim Henson Television in association with Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista...

series on ABC and the MGM films Babes In Toyland and An All Dogs Christmas; Feather and composer Mark Watters wrote the themes for MGM’s TV shows All Dogs Go to Heaven

All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series

All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series is an animated television series which aired from 1996 to 1998 in syndication and on the Fox Family Channel from 1998 to 1999, with 41 half-hour episodes produced in total. It was produced by MGM Animation and was distributed by Claster Television...

and The Lionhearts; they also created the piece “Faster, Higher, Stronger” for Jessye Norman to sing in the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics. Feather and composer Larry Grossman wrote the song that Julie Andrews performed in The Princess Diaries 2. Feather has also created lyrics for Disney’s feature film The Jungle Book 2 (with Australian jazz musician Paul Grabowsky

Paul Grabowsky

-Biography:Grabowsky was born on 27 September 1958 in Lae, Papua New Guinea; his father Alistair had lived in Papua New Guinea with his wife Charlotte since the 1930s working on oil rigs, building roads, flying planes and playing the drums...

), and for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween, the PBS series Make Way for Noddy, and the Candy Land and My Little Pony films for Hasbro Toys.

Feather’s work has been heard on numerous records, in films and on television. Her songs have been covered extensively by artists such as Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Linda Hyman was an American soul singer and actress.-Early years:Phyllis Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in the St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh...

, Kenny Rankin

Kenny Rankin

Kenny Rankin was an American pop and jazz singer and songwriter, originally from the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City, New York.-Biography:...

, Patti Austin

Patti Austin

-Life and career:Austin was born in Harlem, New York. She made her debut at the Apollo Theater at age four and had a contract with RCA Records when she was only five. Quincy Jones and Dinah Washington have proclaimed themselves as her godparents....

, Diane Schuur

Diane Schuur

Diane Schuur is an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Deedles", she has won two Grammy Awards, headlined many of the world's most prestigious music venues, including Carnegie Hall and The White House and has toured the world performing with such greats as Quincy Jones, Stan Getz, B. B...

 and Cleo Laine

Cleo Laine

Dame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...

. Many of her own solo CDs have featured contemporary lyrics to formerly instrumental pieces written by Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

, Fats Waller

Fats Waller

Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...

 and other pre-bop composers. Feather’s recordings have received glowing reviews in every major jazz magazine. Down Beat has called her work “deliciously savvy”; Jazz Times referred to her as “a lyrical Dorothy Parker” and her lyrical reinventions as “pure genius.”

In 2005, Feather began working as lyricist on Canum Entertainment’s theatrical project The Thief, based on the Oscar-nominated Russian film and featuring the music of Russian composer Vladimir Shainskiy; The Thief debuted at LA’s El Portal Theatre in the summer of 2007. Soon after, she started work on Canum’s next musical, Pest Control, with co-lyricist Scott de Turk. She was also commissioned to write lyrics for a musical production of Tom Wolfe

Tom Wolfe

Thomas Kennerly "Tom" Wolfe, Jr. is a best-selling American author and journalist. He is one of the founders of the New Journalism movement of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early life and education:...

’s The Bonfire of the Vanities

The Bonfire of the Vanities

The Bonfire of the Vanities is a 1987 novel by Tom Wolfe. The story is a drama about ambition, racism, social class, politics, and greed in 1980s New York City and centers on four main characters: WASP bond trader Sherman McCoy, Jewish assistant district attorney Larry Kramer, British expatriate...

(music by New York neo-classical composer Stefania de Kenessey). American Opera Projects has presented excerpts from this work, and it was featured at the annual Derriere Guard concert in New York in October 2007, with Tom Wolfe as keynote speaker.

Feather has released 12 albums, three in the 1980s with the vocal trio Full Swing. The albums she has done since 2001 have received the widest radio airplay and most press. Two of these were Fats Waller and Duke Ellington projects with her added lyrics. More recently, her CDs have featured original compositions written with such jazz composers as Eddie Arkin, Shelly Berg and Russell Ferrante. Feather's 2010 release, Ages, received a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album.

Discography

Year	Album	Label
1997	The Body Remembers	Bean Bag Bean bag A bean bag is a sealed bag containing dried beans, PVC pellets or expanded polystyrene, with various applications.-Games:...
2001	New York City Drag	Rhombus Records
2003	Cafe Society	Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
2004	Such Sweet Thunder: Music of the Duke Ellington Orchestra	Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
2005	Dooji Wooji	Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
2008	Language	Jazzed Media
2010	Ages	Jazzed Media

External links

• Official Site