Biography
Best known for her longstanding role in the vocal ensemble the Manhattan Transfer, singer Cheryl Bentyne has earned acclaim for her richly resonant tone, wide vocal span, and commanding live performances. After becoming a member of the group in 1978, she contributed to more than a dozen of its recordings and collected more than nine Grammy Awards, among them honors for the 1980 track “Birdland,” the 1981 single “The Boy from New York City,” and the 1991 piece “Sassy,” which she co-wrote. Independently she has released several well-received collections of jazz standards, among them 2003’s Talk of the Town, 2006’s Book of Love, and 2018’s Eastern Standard Time.
Born in 1954, Bentyne spent her childhood in rural Mount Vernon, Washington, where her father performed clarinet in a band devoted to Dixieland and swing. She began piano instruction in elementary school and, from the age of fourteen, appeared regularly with her father’s ensemble. Following graduation she relocated to Seattle and secured the lead-vocal position with bandleader John Holte’s swing-focused New Deal Rhythm Band. Over the next four years she toured extensively with the outfit, drawing inspiration from Carmen Miranda, Ruby Keeler, Keely Smith, and Ella Fitzgerald, and she also sang on the group’s first album, Hep - Hep!. Bentyne later departed to seek further prospects in Los Angeles. There, guided by manager Linda Friedman, she refined her abilities through vocal and dance study while appearing at amateur “hoot nights” hosted by the Troubadour and additional venues.
In 1978 Friedman arranged an audition for Bentyne with the crossover jazz and swing vocal quartet the Manhattan Transfer, which sought a replacement for Laurel Masse after the singer’s car accident. Bentyne secured the role and made her first appearance with the ensemble that same year on its fifth studio album, Extensions. The partnership proved fortunate: Bentyne helped shape the record into one of the most successful jazz releases of 1980 and performed on the group’s celebrated rendition of “Birdland,” which received the Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance while bandmate Janis Siegel earned the Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement. The following year Bentyne and the Manhattan Transfer achieved wider recognition when their cover of “The Boy from New York City,” drawn from Mecca for Moderns, reached the top ten of the Billboard 200; the track garnered the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, an award the group repeated that year in the jazz category for “Until I Met You (Corner Pocket).”
Across the ensuing three decades Bentyne performed and recorded with the Manhattan Transfer, securing more than eight Grammy Awards alongside the ensemble. She simultaneously pursued a solo path, issuing her first independent album, Something Cool, in 1992. Produced by trumpeter and arranger Mark Isham, the project cast Bentyne’s urban phrasing across contemporary pop material interpreted through a jazz lens. The refined standards date Talk of the Town appeared in 2003. Subsequent acoustic jazz outings included 2004’s Lights Still Burn, 2005’s Let Me Off Uptown, and 2006’s Book of Love. She next presented two composer-focused collections: 2011’s Gershwin Songbook and 2012’s Let’s Misbehave: The Cole Porter Songbook.
A two-time cancer survivor, Bentyne received a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis in 2012 and paused her professional activities to undergo treatment. After achieving remission she resumed performing. In 2013 she joined vocalist Mark Winkler for West Coast Cool, a project devoted to songs linked with California jazz of the 1950s. The romantic Lost Love Songs followed in 2016. She then rejoined the Manhattan Transfer for The Junction, the ensemble’s first studio album since founding member Tim Hauser’s death from a heart attack in 2014. Also in 2018 she again collaborated with Winkler on Eastern Standard Time, which saluted celebrated New York songwriting teams such as Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, among others.
Born in 1954, Bentyne spent her childhood in rural Mount Vernon, Washington, where her father performed clarinet in a band devoted to Dixieland and swing. She began piano instruction in elementary school and, from the age of fourteen, appeared regularly with her father’s ensemble. Following graduation she relocated to Seattle and secured the lead-vocal position with bandleader John Holte’s swing-focused New Deal Rhythm Band. Over the next four years she toured extensively with the outfit, drawing inspiration from Carmen Miranda, Ruby Keeler, Keely Smith, and Ella Fitzgerald, and she also sang on the group’s first album, Hep - Hep!. Bentyne later departed to seek further prospects in Los Angeles. There, guided by manager Linda Friedman, she refined her abilities through vocal and dance study while appearing at amateur “hoot nights” hosted by the Troubadour and additional venues.
In 1978 Friedman arranged an audition for Bentyne with the crossover jazz and swing vocal quartet the Manhattan Transfer, which sought a replacement for Laurel Masse after the singer’s car accident. Bentyne secured the role and made her first appearance with the ensemble that same year on its fifth studio album, Extensions. The partnership proved fortunate: Bentyne helped shape the record into one of the most successful jazz releases of 1980 and performed on the group’s celebrated rendition of “Birdland,” which received the Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance while bandmate Janis Siegel earned the Grammy for Best Vocal Arrangement. The following year Bentyne and the Manhattan Transfer achieved wider recognition when their cover of “The Boy from New York City,” drawn from Mecca for Moderns, reached the top ten of the Billboard 200; the track garnered the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, an award the group repeated that year in the jazz category for “Until I Met You (Corner Pocket).”
Across the ensuing three decades Bentyne performed and recorded with the Manhattan Transfer, securing more than eight Grammy Awards alongside the ensemble. She simultaneously pursued a solo path, issuing her first independent album, Something Cool, in 1992. Produced by trumpeter and arranger Mark Isham, the project cast Bentyne’s urban phrasing across contemporary pop material interpreted through a jazz lens. The refined standards date Talk of the Town appeared in 2003. Subsequent acoustic jazz outings included 2004’s Lights Still Burn, 2005’s Let Me Off Uptown, and 2006’s Book of Love. She next presented two composer-focused collections: 2011’s Gershwin Songbook and 2012’s Let’s Misbehave: The Cole Porter Songbook.
A two-time cancer survivor, Bentyne received a Hodgkin’s lymphoma diagnosis in 2012 and paused her professional activities to undergo treatment. After achieving remission she resumed performing. In 2013 she joined vocalist Mark Winkler for West Coast Cool, a project devoted to songs linked with California jazz of the 1950s. The romantic Lost Love Songs followed in 2016. She then rejoined the Manhattan Transfer for The Junction, the ensemble’s first studio album since founding member Tim Hauser’s death from a heart attack in 2014. Also in 2018 she again collaborated with Winkler on Eastern Standard Time, which saluted celebrated New York songwriting teams such as Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf, Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, among others.
Albums
