Biography

Born in Oregon, USA, she completed classical voice studies at the University of Oregon and the State University of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, where she has lived since 1974. She began to expand her range of vocal techniques without words, focusing primarily on vocal expression, and gained recognition in both the jazz and avant-garde music scenes. She has performed as a soloist and toured with various ensembles throughout the USA, South Korea, Japan, India, Africa, Lithuania and all of Europe. For Timbre, her first recording as a bandleader, she received the Annual German Record Critique Award in 1983.

Concerts and recordings with: Vienna Art Orchestra (1979-90), Vocal Summit with Bobby McFerrin, Jeanne Lee, Jay Clayton, Urszula Dudziak (1982-83), vocal ensemble Timbre with Oskar Mörth, Elisabeth Tuchman, Bertl Mütter (1990-2007), Anthony Braxton (comp./reeds), Joëlle Léandre (bass), Barre Phillips (bass), Heiri Känzig (bass), Koichi Makigami (voice), Phil Minton (voice), Aki Takase (piano), Myra Melford (piano), Fritz Hauser (drums), Vladimir Tarasov (drums), Austrian poet Ernst Jandl (a.o.).

Her own projects have included compositions for music and theater productions, radio plays, small and large ensembles and choirs. She taught jazz vocals and free improvisation at music Universities in Graz, Austria; Essen, Berlin, and Hamburg, Germany; and Lucerne, Switzerland, and continues to perform and give Vocal Adventures workshops throughout Europe.

In 2020 she received the Lifetime Achievement Jazz Award from the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany and in 2022 her book Vocal Adventures, Free Improvisation in Sound, Space, Spirit and Song was released by Wolke-Verlag, Germany.

In 2025, she was awarded the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize by the German Jazz Union for her significant contribution to jazz and improvised music for more than five decades.

Her discography comprises approximately 90 recordings.

Interview - a biographical overview by CT Snow online >>

Curricula - Japan since 1982 >>