Lana Cantrell

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]

Lana Cantrell
Cantrell c. 1970s
Born
Lana Eleanor Cantrell

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

Music career

Cantrell recorded six albums for RCA Victor.[5][3] Her preferred style of music was pop standards, but she later made contemporary pop rock a significant part of her performances.[6] 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."[7]

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][7][8] However, she never had a top 40 hit in the Billboard Hot 100.[9]

Transition to law career

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][7] 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][7]

In 1986, Cantrell enrolled at Marymount Manhattan College, where she majored in history.[7] After receiving her bachelor's degree, she attended Fordham University School of Law.[7] 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 was suspended due to her medical condition.[10]

Honours and awards

In 1966, Cantrell won the Amber Nightingale award for singing at a festival in Sopot, Poland.[11]

In 2003, Cantrell was named a member of the Order of Australia.[12] The honour was conferred for "service to the entertainment industry, and for assistance to the Australian community in New York."[1]

Personal life

It was reported in 1973 that Cantrell was engaged to Australian television personality Graham Kennedy.[13] This turned out to be a hoax.[14] 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.[15] Judy Carne, of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In claimed she had a love affair with Cantrell.[16]

Discography

Albums
  • 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

Reissues

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
  1. "Search Australian Honours". It's an Honour. Australian Government. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  2. Lana Cantrell at AllMusic
  3. 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. "Lana Cantrell on Move Again". Billboard. 7 October 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  6. 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.
  7. Kaufman, Michael T. (13 July 1994). "About New York; Spotlight Gives Way to Statutes". The New York Times. p. B3.
  8. Vilanch, Bruce (18 April 1975). "Lana: The image now fits". Chicago Tribune. p. B5.
  9. Whitburn, Joel (2000). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. New York: Billboard Books. ISBN 0-8230-7690-3.
  10. "FindLaw's New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division case and opinions". Findlaw. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  11. "Miss Cantrell Wins Pole Festival Award". Chicago Tribune. Associated Press. 28 August 1966. p. B14.
  12. Stephens, Tony (27 January 2003). "Politics and religion left behind on honours list". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  13. Goodwin, Richard (24 September 1973). "I'll chat with Lana on the show: Kennedy". The Age. Melbourne. p. 2. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  14. Gressor, Megan (26 April 2003). "King of comedy, fears of a clown". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  15. Dale, David (25 April 1985). "Stay in Touch". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 10. Retrieved 27 July 2009.
  16. Lisanti, Paul. p. 91
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