Pleased to hear Joan is popular on this list. Back in 1970something I was given a copy of her first album by a cousin-in-law who worked for Essex Music, her publishers, who said, "I think you'll like this". I did, very much.
Not long after a friend Mo Foster, who played in UK band Affinity (who were signed to Ronnie Scott's Management, as was Joan), played a series of gigs at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club on Frith Street playing bass in her band, followed by a UK tour. At the time Mo would regularly pop in to where I worked, over on Rathbone Place off Oxford Street, with wild tales of the road. I only found out in recent years that, before this, Joan had been in the London production of 'Hair' ( along with the likes of Elaine Paige, Sonja Kristina, and Beverly Baxter (Bev was in a vocal trio with Joan for a few months after 'Hair' and before her first album). I read somewhere that on a recent US tour, Joan started playing 'Willow' but stopped a few bars in when she noticed a guy in the front row on a cell phone. She stopped her band and asked the guy what he was doing!! The red-faced man said that his wife was ill in bed and couldn't make it to the concert but had asked him to phone her when Joan sang 'Willow'. She got a dedication and a phone performance of the song lying in bed [surrounded by tissues, I imagine]. PaulC
