Andy Bey

Andy Bey, an acclaimed jazz singer and pianist known for his four-octave vocal range, died April 26, 2025, in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 85.

Bey's impressive vocal abilities were already gaining him attention by his teen years, when he had a band with two of his eight siblings called Andy and the Bey Sisters. They recorded three albums together before Bey forged off on his own, recording both as a solo artist and accompanying jazz greats like Stanley Clarke, Max Roach, and Horace Silver. His range and versatility on vocals won him wide acclaim, thanks to his ability to switch up tones, styles, and approaches with ease. He was adept at playing almost anything in the jazz songbook and making it his own. Bey recorded 10 albums as a solo artist, including the 2005 Grammy nominee "American Song" and the 2014 Best Vocal Album winner of NPR's Jazz Critics Poll, "Pages from an Imaginary Life." In 2003, Bey was recognized as the Jazz Vocalist of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association.

Musician Natascha Roth was just one of many who paid tribute to him on Facebook, writing, "He was my first professor at Uni and I had no idea what would hit me! He was the kindest, sweetest, funniest human but most of all of musical depth beyond compare. He would always be there for our lessons, if someone did not pitch up Andy was practicing. He was always practicing and he noticed if you did …I followed him everywhere, was at every concert or session or class he gave. When I did have the courage to ask him something, he always answered with care … Thank you Mr. Andy Bey for all you have given to many. Your music will live on forever."

By Eric San Juan

(Image: Christian Rose/Roger Viollet via Getty Images)