Biography - BETTY BRYANT

Betty Bryant is either a singer who plays piano or a pianist who sings. Each listener seems to have an opinion one way or the other. The truth is she seems to do either with equal facility.

Betty was born and raised in Kansas City, MO where she began taking piano lessons at age four. At sixteen she gave a final recital, graduated from Lincoln High School and went off to Washburn University in Topeka, KS. Here she earned a B.A. degree majoring in Art, with minors in English and Psychology. Seemingly the music was gone. But Fate stepped in.

One night while scanning radio stations in Topeka, Betty picked up a broadcast from Oklahoma where a DJ was interspersing live music with his records. She thought this was interesting and told a local DJ/friend about it. He, in turn, told his station manager who invited Betty to the station to hear more, then surprised her by asking if she could do such a show. "I only know St. Louis Blues and Body and Soul up to the bridge," she replied. He then asked if she could sing and she answered emphatically, "No!" Incredibly with that beginning, he put her on the air the very next week, following the baseball game and opposite Lonesome Gal, a popular show at the time which featured a woman with a sultry voice. It was necessary to learn FAST and pray the baseball games would go extra innings.

In 1955 Betty moved to Los Angeles and was hired almost immediately at Ye Little Club in Beverly Hills where another ex-Kansas Citian was performing (Earl Grant). This was the beginning of mostly solo performances in L.A. which quickly branched out to Malibu and Santa Monica. She teamed up with Leonard Sohlman, a bass player, and the two of them worked together, off and on, until his death in the 70's.

In 1987, after a concert for the Niles Home for Children in Kansas City, she was awarded the Key to the City and June 13th of that year was proclaimed Betty Bryant Day. She has been active in the Dolo Coker Scholarship Foundation since its inception in 1983 serving on the board and as a judge of applicants each year, as well as performing at their fundraising event. She also was guest artist at the Langston Hughes Cultural Center in Seattle, WA for Dollars for Scholars, another fundraising event, in 1997 and 1998. Her one venture in the theater, a play called "Louisiana Women," earned her a Drama-Logue Critics' Choice award for Musical Director of the Year. She has appeared in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, and at Tableaux Lounge in Tokyo, Japan where she continues to perform for three months each year.

When Betty is home in Los Angeles you can find her with her duo, trio or even quartet on any given night of the week -- in a restaurant, bar, nightclub, hotel lounge or maybe on the concert stage.