Barbara Lea (April 10, 1929 – December 26, 2011) was an American jazz singer.

Lea was born and raised in Detroit. Her father was a clarinetist before becoming attorney general of Michigan. He changed the family name from LeCocq to Leacock, which she changed to Lea when beginning her singing career. She decided at an early age to become a singer, participating in contests and singing with dance bands. She attendedWellesley College near Boston and studied music theory.^[1] She worked at theStoryville club when singerLee Wiley performed there in the early 1950s.^[2] Her debut solo album,Woman in Love, was released in 1955.^[1]

She became an actress during the 1960s, then moved to California in the 1970s and received a degree in drama fromCalifornia State University, Northridge.^[3]

In the 1970s, Lea was invited to the National Public Radio seriesAmerican Popular Song with Alec Wilder and Friends. In 1976, she appeared in two shows, one featuring the songs ofWillard Robison and one featuring songs performed and recorded byLee Wiley.^[4]

Lea appeared in the JVC, Kool, andNewport Jazz Festivals several times, but her increasing devotion to the songs as written led to concerts of the works ofRodgers and Hart,Arthur Schwartz,Cy Coleman,Cole Porter,Hoagy Carmichael, and the Gershwins, as well as cabaret appearances devoted toKurt Weill,Jerome Kern,Johnny Mercer, andYip Harburg.^[5]

She died in 2011 from complications ofAlzheimer's disease.^[6][7][8][9]

• A Woman in Love (Riverside, 1955)
• Barbara Lea with theJohnny Windhurst Quintets (Prestige, 1956)
• Lea in Love (Prestige, 1956)
• This Could Lead to Love withMundell Lowe (Riverside, 1957)
• The Devil Is Afraid of Music (Audiophile, 1977)
• Remembering Lee Wiley (Audiophile, 1978)
• Do It Again (Audiophile, 1983)
• Hoagy's Children withBob Dorough,Dick Sudhalter (Audiophile, 1983)
• You're the Cats! with theLawson-Haggart Band (Audiophile, 1989)
• Getting Some Fun Out of Life with Mr. Tram Associates with Daryl Sherman, Dick Sudhalter,Loren Schoenberg (Audiophile, 1989)
• Sweet and Low with the Lawson-Haggart Band (Audiophile, 1990)
• Songs from the Original Broadway Production of Pousse-Cafe withEllis Larkins (Audiophile, 1992)
• At the Atlanta Jazz Party withEd Polcer (Jazzology, 1993)
• Find and Dandy withKeith Ingham (Challenge, 1996)
• Are Mad About the Boy: The Songs of Noel Coward with Keith Ingham (Challenge, 2000)
• The Melody Lingers On (2002)
• Celebrate Vincent Youmans with Keith Ingham (Challenge, 2004)
• Our Love Rolls On (2004)
• Deep in a Dream (2005)
• Black Butterfly (2006)
• Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans (Audiophile, 2007)

• Benny Carter,Benny Carter Songbook Volume II (Musicmasters, 1997)
• Loren Schoenberg,Solid Ground (Musicmastsers, 1988)
• Loren Schoenberg,Just A-Settin' and A-Rockin' (Musicmasters, 1990)
• Loren Schoenberg,Out of This World (TCB, 1998)
• Dick Sudhalter,Melodies Heard Melodies Sweet (Challenge, 1999)

• Barbara Lea atAllMusic

• 1929 births
• 2011 deaths
• Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in the United States
• Neurological disease deaths in North Carolina
• American women jazz singers
• American jazz singers
• Musicians from Detroit
• California State University, Northridge alumni
• Hofstra University faculty
• Wellesley College alumni
• Jazz musicians from Michigan
• American women academics
• 21st-century American women

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