Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jazzes up its nominees with Laura Nyro

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2011 nominees this morning and, as has been the case for at least the past decade, the list is by turns lamentable and laughable.
Bon Jovi? Its members should be barred from even visiting the Cleveland venue. Donna Summer? LL Cool J? Beastie Boys? How much “rock” have they collectively produced over the past 40 years? Donovan and Neil Diamond? Storied songwriters but is that enough to warrant admission?
And then there are all those innovative rock bands that have yet to see the inside of the Hall – Rush, Moody Blues, Chicago, etc.
For me, the one bright spot on the list is the inclusion of Laura Nyro, a remarkably gifted and tragically forgotten/overlooked singer-songwriter who did more than any artist this side of Steely Dan to inject jazz influences into pop.
Nyro was born in the Bronxand profoundly influenced by her father, a piano tuner and jazz trumpeter. She grew up listening to Billie Holiday and John Coltrane and was still a teenager when she began writing her jazz-inflected tunes. Her commercial breakthrough came with “And When I Die,” first recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary but immortalized a few years later by Blood, Sweat and Tears. In 1967, Nyro (pronounced “nero”) performed at Monterey Pop on the strength of her Verve debut album, “More Than A New Discovery.”
Following Monterey, David Geffen signed on as Nyro’s manager and got her a deal with Clive Davis at Columbia. Her Facebook bio picks up the story.

In 1968, Columbia Records released Nyro's second album, “Eli and the Thirteenth Confession,” which is widely considered to be one of her best works. It was followed in 1969 by “New York Tendaberry,” another highly acclaimed work. Nyro invited jazz great Miles Davis to the studio while she was recording “New York Tendaberry” and asked him to contribute to an instrumental section, but once he heard what had already been recorded he is reported to have replied, "I can't play on this. You already did it."

Nyro spent much of the ‘70s and ‘80s off the road and out of the studio, involved with marriage and divorce and motherhood. She did not have the taste for fame that many other performers do and this, suffice it to say, put a real crimp in her career. Nyro died on ovarian cancer in 1997 at age 49.
She left behind a string of exquisite jazz-pop melodies and lyrics, many of which became hits for other artists. In addition to the aforementioned Blood, Sweat and Tears track, the Fifth Dimension scored with "Wedding Bell Blues" and “Save the Country”; Three Dog Night had a hit with “Eli's Coming," and Barbra Streisand recorded "Stoney End."

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