“A slightly twisted and superbly talented chanteuse” -Tom Staudter- New York Times
“Joan Crowe gets to the heart of a songs story. And she’s funny. And she is Beautiful. She gets the hat trick” is how Micheal Bourne of WBGO describes Joan. A long time supporter of her work, he wrote the liner notes for her debut CD, Bird On The Wire, which garnered rave reviews in LA Jazz Scene, Jazz Improv, All Music Guide, Cadence, JazzReview.com, All About Jazz and others. Joining her on the CD is Tedd Firth on Piano, Jay Leonhardt on Bass, Scott Neuman on Drums, George Walker Petit on guitar, and Justin Flynn on Sax. She recently returned from a successful Tour of Berlin, Prague, and Amsterdam as a result of the international airplay her CD has been enjoying.
New York Newsday called her “as polished as a diamond.” Joan Crowe is a versatile singer with an extensive repertoire of jazz, standards, pop, rock, blues and folk. Joan’s comic ability earned her the 2002 MAC Award (Manhattan Association of Cabaret and Clubs) for Female Musical Comedy.
She started her musical career in cabaret but “caught the jazz bug” when she opened for Joe Lovano in 2002. Since then she has played in many prestigious jazz clubs, including The Jazz Standard, The Iridium Jazz Club, Sweet Rhythm and Birdland. In her live shows, she is a risk taker and likes combine Jazz with several musical genres and then add bit of comedy. . She performs regularly with her 10 piece band, High Society Rhythm. Her credits include performances at The Rainbow Room, The Oak Room in Grand Prospect Hall , The Carnegie Club, Trumpets Jazz Club, The Manor, The Hackensack Cultural Arts Center, Westchester Conservatory of Music, Rockland Center for the Arts, The Emelin Theatre, Archie’s Place, The Plaza Hotel, Don’t Tell Mama, Brunelli’s, Eighty-Eights, Orchard Street and The Globe, Harry’s of Hartsdale, Coyote Flaco, Zuppas, Danny’s Skylight Room, The Duplex, Judy’s Chelsea, The Cinegrill in Los Angeles, Odettes, Teddy Cares, the National Society of Arts and Letters, the ASCAP songwriters’ showcase, and the Mable Mercer Cabaret Convention at Town Hall.
She is very proud of the money she has raised for Breast Cancer and other charities performing one of her four Cabaret shows: Women of Note, a tribute to Women Songwriters. Time Out New York selected her as “Critic’s Pick” for her cabaret show, Shooting Stars, which earned her first MAC Award nomination in 2000. Her show As the Crowe Flies was dubbed “Fabulous!” by Bloomberg Radio, and “Hilarious!” by the Associated Press and earned her a second MAC Award nomination. The Devil in Miss Joan, a hysterical look at good and evil” garnered her the coveted MAC Award for Musical Comedy in 2002.
Before she switched to singing, she had a successful acting career and was well known to daytime viewers in a recurring role on All My Children, Joan has also appeared on screen in Working Girl and An Eye For An Eye, with Sally Field. Classically trained with a MFA from the Asolo State Theatre and a BFA in Theatre from Indiana University at Bloomington, her acting credits are extensive. She has performed Regionally at the Asolo State Theater, Kennedy Center, Indiana Repertory, The Phoenix. Her New York acting credits include Dance Theatre Workshop, Altered Stages and Theatre Works USA.
Joan grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, while spending summers on her grand parents dairy farm in Germany. The community Theatre and high school musicals she performed in gave her an early love of singing. She went to college at University of Evansville then transferred to Indiana University to complete her BFA in Theatre. She attended the prestigious Asolo State Theatre for graduate school.
In 1989 she met and later married actor/producer and all around funny guy, Robb Pruitt. In 1992 they became the proud parents of son Robbie and four years later daughter Marie (weighing in at a whopping 11 pounds 1 oz.!) She was grateful to be able to take six years off from working to do the Mommy thing.
When her kids started school, in 1999 Joan embarked on her singing career, starting in cabaret and gradually moving into jazz. She brings the theatricality of her acting background and a love of lyrics to her singing to create her own special style.
