Pia Beck(1925-2009)

Dutch pianist and singer. Pia Beck reached the height of her popularity in Europe in the 1950's and 1960's, particularly through her interpretations and unique phrasing of standards like 'Dancing on the Ceiling' and George Shearing's 'Lullaby of Birdland'. On several of her recordings from that period, she was accompanied by noted American jazz musicians, such as Milt Hinton and Barry Galbraith. In the mid-1960's, she and her partner Marga Samsonowski emigrated to Spain where she died of cardiac arrest aged 89.