Carmen McRae performs during a 1966 TV appearance.
When she was a seventeen Carmen McRae had was introduced to Billy Holiday by Irene Kitchings, the Wife of pianist Teddy Wilson.
Billie would even record one of McRae's early songs, "Dream of Life in 1939.
McRae played piano at Milton Playhouse in New York and was also a singing chorus girl there during the late 1930s and early '40s.
It was at Miltons that she first met Dizzy Gillespie, and landed her first professional job in 1944 as pianist with Benny Carter's big band.
She first appeared on record while working in the band of Mercer Ellington in 1946.
Her move to Chicago in 1948 had a profound affect on her developing style, evident upon her return to New York nearly four years later.
Though her repertoire many have changed in respect to the memory her mentor Billie Holiday, Carmen McRae always sang at least one of her songs during every performance.
From 1961 through the 1980s, Carmen would sing in clubs across the U.S. and around the world.
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