Yolande Bavan is a singer and actress. Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

), she toured Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 and Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 as a performer with Graeme Bell

Graeme Bell

Graeme Emerson Bell AO MBE is an Australian Dixieland and classical jazz pianist, composer and band leader...

's band early in her career. She is best known for replacing Annie Ross

Annie Ross

Annie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...

 in the legendary vocal group Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

Lambert, Hendricks & Ross were a vocalese trio formed by jazz vocalists Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks and Annie Ross.-History:The group formed in 1957 and recorded their first album Sing a Song of Basie for Paramount Records...

 after Ross was forced to leave the group due to poor health in 1962. She recorded three albums, all live recordings, with the group under the name of Lambert, Hendricks & Bavan. In 1964, both she and Dave Lambert left the group, effectively ending the trio. In 1969, Peter Ivers

Peter Ivers

Peter Scott Ivers was an American musician, best known as the host of New Wave Theatre.Ivers was born in Illinois, but raised in Brookline, a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. He attended the Roxbury Latin School and then Harvard University, majoring in classical languages, but chose a career in...

 and Yolande Bavan made an album for Epic Records called Knight of the Blue Communion. Bavan also provided vocals for Weather Report

Weather Report

Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...

's 1972 album I Sing the Body Electric

I Sing the Body Electric (album)

I Sing the Body Electric is the second album released by Weather Report from 1972. The album includes two new members of the band: percussionist Dom Um Romão and drummer Eric Gravatt. The last three tracks were recorded live in concert in Tokyo, Japan on January 13, 1972...

, and has made several recorded appearances in musicals such as Salvation

Salvation (musical)

Salvation was a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.-Production:...

, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (musical)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a musical with music by Frank Churchill and Jay Blackton, lyrics by Larry Morey and Joe Cook, book by Joe Cook, based on the 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs....

, and Michael John LaChiusa

Michael John LaChiusa

Michael John LaChiusa is an American musical theatre and opera composer, lyricist, and librettist. He is best known for complex, musically challenging shows such as Hello Again, Marie Christine, The Wild Party, and See What I Wanna See...

's Bernarda Alba

Bernarda Alba (musical)

Bernarda Alba is a one-act musical with music, lyrics and book by Michael John LaChiusa, based on Federico García Lorca's 1936 play The House of Bernarda Alba. Bernarda Alba tells the story of a controlling, newly-widowed mother who is challenged by her five rebellious daughters. The musical...

. She has also made appearances in such films as Parting Glances

Parting Glances

thumb|Parting Glances released on VHS format in 1998Parting Glances is an American film shot in 1984 and released in 1986. With its realistic look at urban gay life in the Ronald Reagan era and at the height of the AIDS crisis, many film critics consider it an important movie in the history of gay...

, One True Thing

One True Thing

One True Thing is a 1998 American drama film directed by Carl Franklin. It tells the story of a woman who is forced to put her life on hold in order to care for her mother who is dying of cancer. It was adapted by Karen Croner from the novel by Anna Quindlen. The movie stars Meryl Streep, Renée...

, and Cosmopolitan

Cosmopolitan (film)

Cosmopolitan is a 2003 American independent film starring Roshan Seth and Carol Kane, and directed by Nisha Ganatra. The film, based on an acclaimed short story by Akhil Sharma and written by screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan , is a cross-cultural romance between a confused and lonely middle-aged East...

, as well as performing in many plays.

External links

• [ Yolande Bavan at Allmusic]
• Yolande Bavan at the IMDb
• Promotional Site for Bavan
• American Repertory Theatre Biography