A passionate, urbane jazz singer, Mary Stallings has a lithe vocal style greatly influenced by Carmen McRae. Stallings first emerged in the 1950s performing in the Bay Area and rose to greater prominence with her 1961 debut Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings. After taking time off for her family, she returned to acclaim in the '90s, issuing a handful of albums on labels like Concord and High Note, including 1996's Manhattan Moods, 2010's Dream, and 2013's But Beautiful.
Born in San Francisco in 1939, Stallings first started singing at a young age in church. The niece of s...