Margo Guryan's songs have been recorded by Cass Elliot, Glen Campbell and Astrud Gilberto, among others.
18 Facts About Margo Guryan
1.
2.
Margo Guryan grew up in New York City in the neighborhood of Far Rockaway, Queens.
3.
Margo Guryan's parents met at Cornell University, where her mother majored in piano, and her father, a keen pianist, in liberal arts.
4.
Margo Guryan studied classical and jazz piano at Boston University, idolizing musicians such as Max Roach and Bill Evans, and switched from piano to composition in her second year to avoid performing.
5.
Margo Guryan was signed by Atlantic, initially as a performer, but her initial attempts at recording were not successful, due in part to her inexperience and in part to a range break in her voice.
6.
Jazz singer Chris Connor recorded her song "Moon Ride" in 1958, while Margo Guryan was still at university, and in 1962, Ms.
7.
Margo Guryan attended the Lenox School of Jazz in 1959, where she met and worked with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, and was taught by Bill Evans, Max Roach, Milt Jackson, Jim Hall, John Lewis and Gunther Schuller, among others.
8.
Margo Guryan was one of two women admitted to the program that year.
9.
Margo Guryan was primarily a jazz musician in this period, married to jazz trombonist and pianist Bob Brookmeyer and writing lyrics for jazz pieces by composers including John Lewis, Ornette Coleman and Arif Mardin.
10.
Tommy LiPuma commissioned Margo Guryan to write a Christmas song for Claudine Longet, and the result was "I Don't Intend to Spend Christmas Without You", a 1967 single.
11.
Margo Guryan signed to Bell Records as an artist, recording an album, Take a Picture, full of light, jazz-tinged pop melodies, produced and arranged initially by John Simon, then when he became unavailable, by John Hill, both overseen by David Rosner.
12.
Interest in Margo Guryan's recordings underwent a revival in the 1990s, particularly in Japan.
13.
Margo Guryan presented Dotson with a selection of demos she had recorded during the 1960s and 1970s that were never released, along with sheets containing other original songs.
14.
An alternate version entitled Thoughts, released by UK-based RPM Records, has the 25 demos, plus two recordings of Margo Guryan singing songs written by others.
15.
In 2007, Margo Guryan released a new single via British label Pure Mint Recordings, entitled "16 Words".
16.
In 2009, Oglio Records released a CD of Margo Guryan playing The Chopsticks Variations.
17.
On July 24,2024, the tribute album Like Someone I Know: A Celebration Of Margo Guryan was publicly announced and was set to be released on November 8,2024 via American record label Sub Pop.
18.
Margo Guryan died November 8,2021, at the age of 84 at her home in Los Angeles.