LAURA NYRO
Laura Nyro (1947-1997), the Bronx-born singer, songwriter and pianist was still a teenager in 1966 when she recorded her debut album. At age 19, Nyro played the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which brought her to the attention of first-time manager David Geffen. He led her to Columbia Records, Nyro’s record label for the next 25 years. Her style was a hybrid of Brill Building style, rock, pop, jazz, gospel, rhythm & blues, show tunes, and soul.
Although Ms. Nyro achieved critical acclaim with her own recordings, she enjoyed commercial success with other artists recording her songs. Artists such as; Barbra Streisand, The 5th Dimension, Three Dog Night, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. In 1969, three of her songs charted on Billboard's Top Ten, simultaneously. Elton John acclaimed her influence to Elvis Costello: “The soul, the passion, the out-and-out audacity of her rhythmic and melody changes was like nothing I’d ever heard before.” Nyro’s tragic death of ovarian cancer at age 49 robbed popular music of one of its purest lights. On April 14, 2012, Laura Nyro was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
