Barbara Rosene

Her father's record collection was the first place Barbara Rosene heard jazz and big band music, and it set the course for a singer who has spent much of her life inside the sound of the 1920s. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, she had a family link to the stage too: her grandfather sang in the 1920s and '30s and performed on the radio in Cleveland. Her influences ran back to Annette Hanshaw and Mildred Bailey, whose recordings shaped her early singing.

Rosene studied English at John Carroll University, where she first sang with the school choir, a big band and a jazz bar. After moving to New York City in 1997 she won a place in Vince Giordano's Nighthawks by audition over the phone, and spent a couple of years performing regularly with the group. Giordano also helped her make Deep Night, her first album and a tribute to Annette Hanshaw. She has also sung with Les Paul and with Woody Allen's New Orleans jazz band, and since 2007 she has sung with the Harry James Orchestra, directed by Fred Radke.