Nat Guidry, Post-Gazette Vocalist Sandy Staley performs at the Walnut Grill in Shadyside.

By Nate Guidry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Sandy Staley sits at a table inside the bar at the Walnut Grill in Shadyside, sifting through a stack of music charts trying to decide what songs she'll perform with her trio in the next few minutes.

There are at least 200 compositions to select from -- tunes ranging from popular American composers like Jerome Kern to lesser-known material from Jimmy Eaton.

Nate Guidry, Post-Gazette Vocalist Sandy Staley performs at the Walnut Grill in Shadyside. Click photo for larger image. Listen In: Hear excerpts of songs from Sandy Staley's CD "Everything I Love": "Ain't Nobody's Business if I Do" "September Song" "Everything I Love" A LIFE IN TUNE     This occasional series profiles longtime performers and aficionados to mine their memories and knowledge of a lifetime in music. See an index to other profiles in this series.

"I've always liked singing these quirky and obscure songs," said the 68-year-old Staley, settling for Eaton's "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart and Throw Away the Key."

"My position has always been, please the people and they will follow you. Many singers sing for themselves. I'm here for my audience. I can listen to what I want to hear at home."

There's little doubt Staley has nurtured a faithful following. She is respected by her peers and has devoted fans who follow her wherever and whenever she performs. She's on a first-name basis with most of her them, including a gentleman who walks over to where she is seated with a song request.

"I have people requesting songs all the time, and that's what it's about," says Staley. "Unless your audience is comfortable with you, they are not going to do that. It's great because you know when it happens they're into your music."

The human voice is an instrument, needing the same amount of development and attention as is required for all other instruments.

But often, you'll find two kinds of vocalists. There are those in love with the idea of being a singer -- vanity-driven performers singing songs devoid of color, depth and humility. Then there are the ones who, like Staley, are hardened, battle-tested vocalists in love with singing.

Not only does Staley know most songs, she's also capable of transforming each tune into something unique to her experience.

"I absolutely love Sandy," says vocalist Jerry Betters. "She can do it all. We worked together as a duet for about four years at the Crow's Nest. Later, we worked at the Fox Chapel Yacht Club. It was great working together because we could go deep into the book."

Sitting on a stool, Staley opens her first set with "Get Out of Town." Before progressing to the next tune, she engages the audience with light patter and talks about how each song became part of her repertoire.

Staley doesn't move around on the bandstand as she once did. She no longer has the strength to walk over to a table and whisper a sweet lullaby in someone's ear. Years of smoking have given her emphysema, forcing her to travel with a portable oxygen machine.

"As long as I am sitting, everything is fine," she says. "The things I used to take for granted. I can no longer do."

Two years ago, after already being diagnosed with severe pulmonary disease and emphysema, she suffered a heart attack and nearly died. She was taken to Allegheny Valley Hospital, where doctors told family and friends she had a short time to live, prompting her daughter, Jenny, to make funeral arrangements.

"She was placed in hospice," said Dr. Lawrence Ferlan, a family practitioner at Allegheny Valley Hospital. "Her breathing was so bad that she had to be placed on a ventilator. There wasn't much hope for her. She was very sick. ...

"The remarkable part of this story is, hospice doesn't always mean you're going to die. We put people in hospice who are dying but also those who have terminal illnesses. Some of them recover, and she is one who did."

Staley eventually went home to round-the-clock visits from family and friends in the Pittsburgh music community.

"I had everyone coming to visit me," says Staley. "It was amazing what my friends and fans did. They paid for everything."

Each day Staley felt a little stronger and eventually summoned enough strength to perform at a Pittsburgh Jazz Society Sunday night concert at the Rhythm House in Bridgeville.

"I slowly started to gain some strength," says Staley. "My spirit has always been strong and positive. I never think of doing negative and counterproductive stuff. So when I got there, I wasn't feeling too great, but when I started to sing, it was magic. Music is truly magical."

A few months after that performance, Staley released her first CD, "Everything I Love," recorded live at George Heid Studio in Aspinwall.

"Sandy is a rare gift to the music of jazz," said George Heid. "I regard her as the finest of the true jazz vocalists to have come out of Pittsburgh in the last 40 years. She sings for all of the right reasons. She also has a massive repertoire of songs."

Staley started singing at age 4 with her father, Bill Staley, who played trumpet and led a Dixieland band.

She was encouraged by her mother to pursue music and, after turning 10, began taking piano lessons from Ethel Harris, a New England Conservatory-trained pianist whose husband, Chester, was one of the first black physicians in New Kensington.

"She was my first real mentor," said Staley. "Ethel was regal and movie-star-beautiful. I would go over to her house, and it was gorgeous."

Later, she was introduced to the music of vocalist Chris Connor.

"She sang with very little vibrato," says Staley. "So I started teaching myself how to sing without vibrato. I learned every song on her recording 'Lullaby of Birdland.' It was great experience for me."

Then, Staley began to explore other musicians, especially trombone players.

"I didn't know anything about jazz musicians, but I started buying trombone records, thinking I could learn about improvisation from the trombone because that sound was similar to the human voice," she says. "You can learn a lot of [stuff] from trombone players. All you have to do is listen to J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Benny Green. I bought all their records, and I would sing their licks and apply it with lyrics."

After graduating from Har-Brack High School, now part of the Highlands School District in Natrona Heights, she attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania but quit after nearly a year.

Soon afterward, she began performing in local clubs around Natrona Heights.

Her big break in Pittsburgh occurred at the Penn Sheraton, which is now the Omni William Penn, when she was asked to perform a concert in the ballroom. Staley accepted the job but realized later that she didn't own a gown.

"I went to Murphy's and I bought a piece of material that was on sale for 99 cents. It looked like silk and I brought it to my sister-in-law, who was a great seamstress. Without a pattern she made me a sleeveless gown. I was a star in a 99-cent evening dress."

That led to other opportunities, including a five-year run at the New Era Club, an after-hours bistro on Craig Street.

"I worked there on Friday and Saturday from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m.," said Staley, who met her late husband, Buddy DeCarlo, at the club. DeCarlo was a singer, bouncer and card dealer there. "Every after-hours club had a band. It was a really fun job."

Staley also spent decades performing with pianist Bobby Negri and for a period in the early '90s worked as many as 37 different shows a month, not including the five days a week she spent as a regular cocktail singer/pianist at the Holiday Inn in Oakland.

Now, the jobs aren't as readily available. A good month might yield five gigs, but Staley doesn't allow that to taint her spirit and love for great songs.

Back at the Walnut Grill, Staley and her trio launch into "You Won't Forget Me," an obscure tune made famous by Shirley Horn from the movie "Torch Song."

"It's a marvelous song," says Staley. "There are so many wonderful songs that aren't being sung anymore."