The Thule Girls (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781453712160)

Mizz Shirley Peterson was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 1928, where classical piano lessons, calf roping and country western music were a big part of her life. Shirley joined the Cheyenne high school 'dance band' in her senior year and discovered playing 'swing' with the boys was much more fun than dancing the "Cotton Eyed Joe" and playing in piano recitals. When the United States entered the 'second world war', Shirley became the sole remaining musician in her high school band. To the disappointment of her family, who were "rodeo people" Shirley headed for the east coast. Once enrolled in George Washington University she again became the only female member of the university's fourteen-piece dance band. The 'boys in the band' took her to 'after hours' clubs and 'jam sessions' exposing her to the jazz world and the musical freedom that jazz inspired. After three years of studying political science and languages, Shirley married a jazz 'tenor sax' player and moved to Boston where she studied 'jazz piano' and worked for agents who booked her on jobs which required her to sing popular songs and to play commercial style piano. Playing for nightclub acts in a band with her husband, she was required to accompany male and female singers, strippers, magicians, exotic dancers, tap dancers and comedians. Her musical ability expanded and her knowledge of 'show business' increased immeasurably. After her husband's untimely death, Shirley continued to perform alone and with small groups, playing and singing at 'piano bars' and in cocktail lounges, which became popular during the sixties and seventies. Working through New York booking agencies, Shirley traversed the United States and finally retired in Mexico where she lived for several years, and where Spanish became her second language. "Senora" Shirley began to play piano again with young invigorated Mexican musicians eager to learn and play jazz. Shirley recorded her first CD, ever, "Playing With the Big Boys" while visiting musician friends in northern California in 2003. As a result of years of playing various piano styles, Shirley enjoyed playing what she called "Waldorf Astoria Jazz", a mixture of 'free and easy', swinging piano - now called "Smooth Jazz. She sang and played all the wonderful songs that people remember from as far back as the nineteen thirties. Shirley was an entertainer, musician and vocalist right up to the time when she passed away in 2008.