Folk Singer Judy Henske Dead at 85

Judy Henske, a legendary determine within the people revival motion of the ’60s, died on April 27 at age 85. Her husband, Craig Doerge, stated Henske died whereas in hospice care in Los Angeles after an extended sickness.

Henske, who was born in Chippewa Falls, Wis., in 1936, relocated to San Diego in 1959, the place she started performing in native coffeehouses and landed a visitor shot on ABC’s Hootenanny TV present. She then moved to Oklahoma Metropolis in 1962, the place her highly effective, dramatic vocal model caught the eye of ex-Kingston Trio member Dave Guard, who requested her to affix the Whiskeyhill Singers.

The group recorded one album earlier than Jac Holzman of Elektra Data took discover of Henske and signed her as a solo act. She launched two albums with the label that included a mixture of people, blues, jazz and stand-up comedy. The second album yielded the minor hit “Excessive Flying Hen,” which was later coated by acts like Jefferson Airplane, Gram Parsons and Neil Younger.

Henske moved once more, this time to New York Metropolis, the place she carried out at legendary people venues just like the Village Gate and the Bitter Finish. She additionally appeared on an early episode of The Judy Garland Present. (She declined a suggestion of an everyday function in this system.) In 1963, she appeared alongside Johnny Money within the musical comedy movie Hootenanny Hoot. Henske additionally ceaselessly shared levels in New York with Woody Allen, who drew from her character and background for his Oscar-winning 1977 film Annie Corridor. (The movie’s title character is an aspiring singer from Chippewa Falls.)

Take heed to Judy Henske’s ‘Excessive Flying Hen’

In 1963, Henske married musician Jerry Yester, who would later be a part of the Lovin’ Spoonfuls. After shifting to California, she recorded a second stay album, 1966’s The Loss of life Defying Judy Henske, plus a number of singles that have been organized and produced by Jack Nitzsche, who dubbed her the “Queen of the Beatniks.”

With Yester, she launched the psychedelic people album Farewell Aldebaran for Frank Zappa’s Straight Data, a cult report famous for its early use of synthesizers. The couple then fashioned a quintet referred to as Rosebud, which launched one eponymous album in 1971.

Henske stepped away from performing to give attention to songwriting, collaborating typically along with her second husband, Doerge. They wrote “Yellow Seashore Umbrella,” which was later coated by Three Canine Evening and Bette Midler, together with “Would possibly as Properly Have a Good Time,” later recorded by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Henske spent the ’90s performing in small venues, earlier than returning to recorded music in 1999 with Free within the World, adopted by She Sang California in 2004. “I’ve accomplished fairly effectively in my life, and it’s been very enjoyable,” Henske stated in a 2013 interview with The Chippewa Herald. “I adopted my bliss.”