Barbara Morrison performs onstage at the 4th annual Black History Month Festival at Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center on February 20, 2021 in Los Angeles.Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images
Barbara Morrison, a great jazz and blues singer from Los Angeles, has passed away. She was 72 years old at the time.
According to her brother Richard Morrison, Morrison died on Wednesday, March 16. The reason of death has not been revealed.
“To maintain my sister’s legacy, we are attempting to keep the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center operational,” Richard Morrison said in a statement, referring to the L.A.-area venue his sister founded in 2009.
Morrison’s GoFundMe page was set up in early March when she was brought to the hospital with cardiovascular disease, according to the Los Angeles Times. More than $13,000 was raised thanks to the page.
Morrison, who was born in a Detroit suburb in 1949 and migrated to Los Angeles at the age of 21 in the early 1970s, went on to perform with legends such as Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Etta James, Nancy Wilson, and Dr. John.
Throughout her six-decade career, she recorded solo albums such as I Know How to Do It (1996) and Visit Me (2001). (1999).
Morrison performed at various jazz music events throughout the world, as well as New York’s Carnegie Hall, according to the Times, in addition to being a staple at Southern California jazz clubs.
Morrison dedicated her life to establishing the L.A. music community and nurturing up-and-coming talent in addition to playing. In Leimert Park, she founded the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center in 2009. She founded the California Jazz & Blues Museum in the same region two years later.
Morrison was also a jazz studies associate professor at UCLA. The Barbara Morrison Jazz Scholarship was recently established at the university.
Richard Morrison, her brother; Pamela Morrison-Kersey and Armetta Morrison, her sisters; and ten nieces and nephews survive her.
The Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, located at 4305 Degnan Blvd. #101, Los Angeles, CA 9008, will accept flowers and donations.
