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Lana Cantrell

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Lana Cantrell
Cantrell c. 1970s
Born
Lana Eleanor Cantrell

(1943-08-07) 7 August 1943 (age 81)
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Musician
  • lawyer

Lana Eleanor Cantrell[1] AM (born 7 August 1943)[2] is an Australian-American singer and entertainment lawyer.[3] She was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in the Grammy Awards of 1968.[4][5][6]

Music career

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Cantrell recorded six albums for RCA Victor during the 1960s.[7][3] Her preferred style of music was pop standards, but she later made contemporary pop rock a significant part of her performances.[8] Cantrell commented in a 1994 profile, "Think of how few people can still make their careers by singing standards.... There's Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand, and I don't know anyone else."[9]

Cantrell was a frequent guest on television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and The Mike Douglas Show.[3][9][10] However, she never had a top 40 hit in the Billboard Hot 100,[11] hitting #63 in 1975 with "Like a Sunday Morning".

Television

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Year Title Role Type
1961-1963; 1966 Bandstand Guest - Herself/Performer TV series Australia, 5 episodes
1965 Gypsy Herself TV series US, 2 episodes
1966 The Pat Boone Show Herself - Singer/Performer TV series US, 2 episodes
1966-1971 The Ed Sullivan Show Guest - Herself/Singer TV series US, 13 episodes
1966-1977 The Mike Douglas Show Guest Singer TV series US, 7 episodes
1967; 1970 The Hollywood Palace Herself - Singer TV series US, 2 episodes
1967 The Steve Allen Comedy Hour Herself - Musical Guest TV series US, 1 episode
1967 Spotlight Herself TV series US, 1 episode
1967; 1968 The Red Skelton Show Herself - Guest Singer TV series US, 2 episodes
1967-1977 The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson Guest - Herself/Singer TV series US, 24 episodes
1968; 1972 The Dick Cavett Show Guest - Herself TV series US, 2 episodes
1968 The Jonathan Winters Show Herself - Guest TV series US, 1 episode
1968 The Joey Bishop Show Herself TV series US, 2 episodes
1968 The Kraft Music Hall Herself TV series US, 2 episodes
1969 The John Davidson Show Guest Singer TV series UK, 1 episode
1970 The Engelbert Humperdinck Show Guest - Herself TV series UK, 1 episode
1972 The Bob Braun Show Herself - Guest Singer TV series US, 1 episode
1973 The Graham Kennedy Show Guest - Herself sings TV series Australia, 1 episode
1973; 1975 The Mike Walsh Show Guest Singer TV series Australia, 2 episodes
1975 The Don Lane Show Guest - Herself/Singer TV series Australia, 1 episode
1975 The Merv Griffin Show Guest - Herself TV series US, 1 episode
1976 Dinah! Guest - Herself TV series US, 1 episode
1977 This Is Your Life: Peter Allen Guest - Herself TV series Australia, 1 episode
1981 Ryan's Hope Herself TV series US, 1 episode
1982 Cabaret with Martin Schaffer Guest - Herself TV series US, 1 episode
1992 Peter Allen: The Boy from Oz Herself TV special US/Australia
1996 The South Bank Show Herself TV series UK, 1 episode
2001 This Is Your Life: Trisha Noble Guest - Herself TV series Australia, 1 episode

Transition to law career

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Cantrell eventually decided to make a transition out of music in the 1980s due to a decline in the number of venues where she could sing in her preferred style, the size of her audiences, and her working conditions.[3][9] Although she had once been able to tour at supper clubs that would furnish a 20-piece orchestra for her and her conductor, in later years she toured with only a five-piece band that she had to pay herself.[3] She decided to pursue a law career in part because a former manager had spent much of her earnings over the years and she wanted to protect other performers from similar experiences.[3][9]

In 1986, Cantrell enrolled at Marymount Manhattan College, where she majored in history.[9] After receiving her bachelor's degree, she attended Fordham University School of Law.[9] After graduation, she began practicing law with the firm of Ballon Stoll Bader & Nadler in New York City.[3]

In 2019, Cantrell's license to practice law in the state of New York was suspended due to an undisclosed medical condition.[12] Before having her license suspended, she operated a private practice in Mattituck, NY.[13]

Honours and awards

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In 1966, Cantrell won the Amber Nightingale award for singing at a festival in Sopot, Poland.[14]

In 2003, Cantrell was named a member of the Order of Australia.[15] The honour was conferred for "service to the entertainment industry, and for assistance to the Australian community in New York."[1]

Personal life

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It was reported in 1973 that Cantrell was engaged to Australian television personality Graham Kennedy.[16] This turned out to be a hoax.[17] Kennedy later claimed that his romance with Cantrell was purely an invention of the Sunday Observer, although Kennedy himself had confirmed publicly at the time that the relationship was real.[18] Judy Carne, of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In claimed she had a love affair with Cantrell.[19]

Discography

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Albums

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  • And Then There Was Lana, RCA Victor LSP-3755, 1967
  • Another Shade of Lana, RCA Victor LSP-3862, 1967
  • Act III, RCA Victor LSP-3947, 1968
  • Lana!, RCA Victor LSP-4026, 1968
  • The Now of Then, RCA Victor LSP-4121, 1969
  • The 6th of Lana, RCA Victor LSP-4263, 1969
  • The Best of Lana Cantrell, RCA ANL1-1049, 1975

Eps

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  • Introducing Lana Cantrell, REX, 1961
  • Australia’s Great Talent, FESTIVAL FX-11,327, ????

Reissues

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Beginning in 2017, Lana Cantrell's RCA Victor albums have been reissued for the first time on compact disc in Hi-Res audio, replacing years of poor quality bootlegs on YouTube. Her six studio albums have been reissued from 2017 to 2019. All reissues were published by the RCA-Legacy label. Singles or B-sides that did not appear on her albums are not available at the moment.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Search Australian Honours". It's an Honour. Australian Government. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  2. ^ Lana Cantrell at AllMusic
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Ziegel, Vic (29 April 1995). "Lana Sings Different Tune". Daily News. New York. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  4. ^ "1967 Grammy Awards Finalists". Billboard. 17 February 1968. p. 10. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
  5. ^ "Whatever happened to Grammy's Best New Artists?". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  6. ^ Maglio, Tony (20 November 2019). "2020 Grammy Nominations: Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X Lead the Pack". Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Lana Cantrell on Move Again". Billboard. 7 October 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  8. ^ Holden, Stephen (12 April 1985). "Lana Cantrell and Trio at the Park Ten". The New York Times. p. C28. Her small sultry alto, which breaks into a wide vibrato at the ends of musical phrases, is much better suited to quiet, intimate ballads than to the contemporary pop-rock that takes up two-thirds of her show.
  9. ^ a b c d e f Kaufman, Michael T. (13 July 1994). "About New York; Spotlight Gives Way to Statutes". The New York Times. p. B3.
  10. ^ Vilanch, Bruce (18 April 1975). "Lana: The image now fits". Chicago Tribune. p. B5.
  11. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2000). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7690-3.
  12. ^ "FindLaw's New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  13. ^ Top Attorneys of North America
  14. ^ "Miss Cantrell Wins Pole Festival Award". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 28 August 1966. p. B14.
  15. ^ Stephens, Tony (27 January 2003). "Politics and religion left behind on honours list". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  16. ^ Goodwin, Richard (24 September 1973). "I'll chat with Lana on the show: Kennedy". The Age. Melbourne. p. 2. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  17. ^ Gressor, Megan (26 April 2003). "King of comedy, fears of a clown". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  18. ^ Dale, David (25 April 1985). "Stay in Touch". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 10. Archived from the original on 13 January 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  19. ^ Lisanti, Paul. p. 91
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