Corky Hale

Corky Hale, whose moniker evokes spoiled vintages and inclement skies, built a reputation as a jazz harpist whose understated touch reached easy-listening listeners. At the same time she functioned as a multi-instrumentalist fluent across both string and woodwind instruments, and she also sang, an activity that required no manual dexterity. Her training began early: piano lessons at age three, harp five years afterward, flute by the end of her first decade, and cello upon entering her teens. Most instruction occurred in her native Freeport, Illinois, though she additionally attended the Chicago Music Conservatory and summer programs in Interlochen, Michigan. Commercial engagements marked her professional entry when she joined Freddy Martin’s orchestra in 1950. Throughout much of the first half of the 1950s she toured with Liberace, later appearing as both vocalist and harpist alongside the popular trumpeter Harry James. Ray Anthony subsequently showcased her singing paired with her piano playing. She made an effective screen appearance in The Benny Goodman Story, and reviewers hailed her as a harp innovator once Kitty White permitted Hale to perform on a 1954 album. Her birth name is Merrilyn Hecht.