Sheila Jeanette Dawson (born November 18, 1928, in Detroit, Michigan) is a jazz singer whose career spans six decades. Raised in poverty in Pennsylvania’s coal-mining country, Dawson began singing as a child and, by the time she was in her early teens, was working semi-professionally in Detroit clubs. Her first significant influence was Charlie Parker; indeed, most of her influences have been instrumentalists rather than singers. Working chiefly with black musicians