DETROIT — A jazz legend with a long, storied career and a global fan base, Detroit-born singer Sheila Jordan died on Monday in her home in New York City at the age of 96.
Named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2012, Jordan is largely considered an underappreciated artist, considering her vocal talent and lengthy recording and performing career. That path began in Detroit jazz clubs of the 1940s, where she met saxophonist Charlie Parker. He famously told Jordan she had “million-dollar ears” because of her ability to identify instrumental jazz notes and sing them.
According to Jordan’s New York Times obituary, she moved to New York City in 1951. Shortly after, she married Parker’s pianist, Duke Jordan, whom she had started dating while in Detroit. Daughter Tracy Jordan was born in 1955. The Jordans divorced in the early 1960s, around the same time Sheila recorded her critically acclaimed debut album “Portrait of Sheila” for famed Blue Note Records…