All Photos: Alan Mercer
Sue Raney was born in the small town of McPherson, Kansas. She and her family moved to Wichita shortly thereafter, and it was there that her parents discovered she could sing…at the age of four. When they moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, she performed as a youngster. She had her own radio show at twelve and a 15 minute TV show when she was fourteen.
After a move to Los Angeles in 1955, she became a regular on the Jack Carson radio show when she was sixteen. At seventeen, she was signed to Capitol Records and did her first album with Nelson Riddle called ‘When Your Lover is Gone.’ She also recorded with Billy May, and Ralph Carmichael on Capitol, and with Billy Byers on Imperial and Philips.
In the 1970s, she appeared on numerous TV variety shows. The Dean Martin Show, The Danny Kaye Show, The Red Skelton show, countless appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, The Joey Bishop Late Show, and The Mike Douglas Show. She also appeared with Henry Mancini on a PBS Special that included such stars as Julie Andrews, Andy Williams, Johnny Mathis and Steve Allen…among others. She did appearances with Bob Hope, Don Rickles and Bob Newhart, with the latter two in the Las Vegas main showrooms. She toured and sang with the Four Freshmen in the late '60's and early '70's.
She was part owner of a jingle company in the late '70's, writing and singing on many station ID's and commercials. Then, in the early '80's, she was signed to Discovery Records and began recording again. She was also the lead singer with Supersax and the L.A. Voices vocal group.
In more recent times, she has been performing with the Pops conductor, Richard Kaufman, doing symphony concerts in the U.S. She has also toured with Michel Legrand and performed in numerous jazz festival in the U.S. and abroad.
When not performing, she is a vocal coach, and teaches from her home in Sherman Oaks, where she resides with her husband, Carmen Fanzone, a former major league baseball player. He is an accomplished musician, having performed with the Baja Marimba Band and has contributed to many of Sue's CDs.
Her 2007 CD, Heart's Desire, a tribute to Doris Day, found her returning to Capitol Records Studio "A" where she cut her first record. She was accompanied by full orchestration (brass, reeds, rhythm and strings), arranged and conducted by Grammy-winning musician Alan Broadbent. It received among the best reviews of her career: "…finds her singing better than ever."– Will Friedwald; "a genuine masterpiece no serious fan of the Great American Songbook can afford to miss."– Rex Reed. Her 2011 CD, also with Broadbent, Listen Here, continues on in a similar quality vein.
Sue Raney has one of the most beautiful voices in music. She is always in tune, displays complete control over her vibrato, and has the rare gift of being able to interpret lyrics with such deep understanding that she makes them sound fresh, even if the words are familiar. Or as Julie Andrews observed a while back, "As for Ms. Raney – well, she is a marvel."
AM: What made you decide to record a Christmas album now Sue?
SR: I’ve always wanted to record a Christmas album. Just never had the chance to do it until now. I discussed it with Jordi Pujol, who is the owner of my label, Fresh Sound. He told me I had to record one.
AM: What kind of songs did you choose?
SR: I really only recorded traditional songs. A lot of people wanted me to sing some newer, lesser known songs and I did record one unknown song which is the title track ‘Christmas Lady.’ Everything else is traditional Christmas music.
AM: Do you have a favorite Christmas song?
SR: I do now, it’s called ‘A Christmas Love Song’ and it is a beautiful song.
AM: Do you have a traditional favorite?
SR: I recorded ‘We Need A Little Christmas’ with a sweet little arrangement and I find myself going around the house humming it the most.
AM: Are you doing much live performing these days?
SR: No, I’m really not. I don’t like to travel anymore. I do go to New York occasionally and I did play Feinstein’s before it closed. I haven’t been there in a while now.
AM: You used to play there all the time.
SR: I used to play there all the time yes, but I like my peaceful little at home life now.
AM: I do notice that East Coast artists tend to stay on the East coast and West Coast artists stay on the West Coast. No one seems to travel like they used to.
SR: Years ago someone told me that Mel Torme would spend six months in New York and six months in Los Angeles. He really was bi-coastal. I think it did wonders for his career. I ended up in the jingle business more than recording albums but I always thought that would have been a good thing for me to do.
AM: When you started recording was your music considered jazz?
SR: No, I was seventeen when I was signed by Capitol and the first album was produced by Nelson Riddle. We recorded all standards.
AM: That was considered pop music, then wasn’t it?
SR: Yes, pop music like Nat King Cole and Sinatra and Tony Bennett. They were all considered Pop Artists. Now we call it the Great American Songbook. That was the Pop era. I tried to get hit records like everybody did to give my career a little boost.
AM: Even if you didn’t get a Top Ten record, all your music is available today. Did you ever imagine that those early recordings would be available now?
SR: No, and I wish some of it wasn’t available. (Laughter) There is a new release called ‘The Capitol Years’ and it’s all my work with Capitol. It’s painful for me to hear some of it.
AM: I understand because it’s so long ago and so distant.
SR: In those days you just went in and opened your mouth and sang and went home and everything else was taken care of for you. You didn’t concern yourself with the mixing or if you hit the right notes. You never saw or heard anything until the final product was released. I would always wonder why they chose that picture for the cover.
AM: As you continued to record through the years you had a lot more control over the final product, right?
SR: Oh yes. I’m really involved now. I sit in there and listen to the mixing. This was in the 80’s when I recorded the music of Johnny Mandel. From that time on I realized how important it was to oversee everything. Now I choose the picture I want and the take that I want. I learned this late in life.
AM: That’s because you came up at a time when no one was involved.
SR: I don’t think they wanted us around the recording studio.
AM: Do you have plans to continue recording?
SR: I’m always thinking I’ve recorded my last album but if my voice is OK and I can still do it, I will record another one.
