Feather, (Billie Jane Lee) Lorraine

Feather, (Billie Jane Lee) Lorraine , jazz, singer; daughter of Leonard Feather; b. N.Y., Sept. 10, 1948. She was named after her godmother Billie Holiday, her mother Jane (formerly a singer), her mother’s ex-roommate Peggy Lee, and the song “Sweet Lorraine,” The Feathers moved to L.A. when Lorraine was 12; at 18, after two years as a theater arts major atL.A.C.C., she returned to N.Y. to pursue an acting career. Some touring, regional theater, Off-Broadway work and the concert and Broadway versions of Jesus Christ Superstar followed, interspersed with many waitressing jobs. She turned to singing with jazz and Top 40 bands in N.Y., N.J. and Pa., sang backup for Petula Clark and Grand Funk Railroad, and then put her own act together, performing in cabarets, then moving back to L.A. Jake Hanna saw her at Donte’s and recommended her to Concord Jazz head Carl Jefferson, leading to a recording. Soon after, she joined producer Richard Perry’s vocal trio Full Swing and spent the 1980s with them, which included the Monterey, Playboy and Kool Jazz Festivals, travels to Japan and Brazil and backing Bette Midler. She wrote lyrics for 23 songs on the group’s releases, some for classic pieces like Duke Ellington’s “Rockin’ in Rhythm,” the Yellowjackets’ “Ballad of the Whale” and Horace Henderson’s “Big John’s Special” (later heard in the movie Swing Shift). Full Swing was featured on Barry Manilow’s Swing Street album and TV special. Their recording of Feather’s song ”2 Good 2 Be 4gotten,” written with Morgan Ames and Russ Freeman, became a Top 40 Adult Contemporary single. When Full Swing dissolved, she focused on writing. Songs with her lyrics were recorded by Patti Austin, Phyllis Hyman, Djavan, Diane Schuur, Maria Muldaur, Kenny Rankin, Cleo Laine (three versions of Ellington instrumental released in 1995), and others. She wrote or co-wrote (and sometimes performed) TV soundtrack songs for Beverly Hills 90210, Family Matters, Days of Our Lives, Santa Barbara (Emmy nominations in 1992 and 1993), Disney’s Dinosaurs (the TV show and album), the animated film Babes in Toyland (1997); numerous songs for the TV series All Dogs Go to Heaven and the show’s theme, which earned her a third Emmy nomination in 1997. In early 1996, she wrote the lyrics (music by Mark Watters) to “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” the finale for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics.

Discography

The Body Remembers (1997); Sweet Lorraine (1978); In Full Swing (1988); End of the Sky.

—Lewis Porter