Jane Olivor
| Jane Olivor | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jane Cohen |
| Born |
May 18, 1947 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Vocal, cabaret, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1970s–2009 |
| Labels | Columbia, Varèse Sarabande |
Jane Olivor (born May 18, 1947) is an American singer. After releasing five albums from the late 1970s through the early 1980s, her stage fright, anxiety over her rapid success, and her husband's illness and death caused her to take a ten-year hiatus. In the 1990s, she released five more albums from 1995 through 2004. Since 2009, she has been retired from the public eye.
Olivor was born as Jane Cohen in Brooklyn, New York, and reportedly grew up with a background in folk music, although her particular influences, she has claimed, were Johnny Mathis and Gene Pitney; the latter appeared on her 2000 album, Love Decides.
In her early days as a performer, Olivor played such venues as Brothers & Sisters and The Ballroom. She became known, notably among the gay community, for her interpretations of songs such as "Some Enchanted Evening" from the Broadway musical South Pacific and "Come Softly to Me", by The Fleetwoods.
Credited as "Janie Olivor, stage performer", an early performance is captured in the 1975 film Saturday Night at the Baths, an independent film shot at the infamous Continental Baths where, among others, Bette Midler got her start. In the film, historically important for its footage both of the bathhouse and of Olivor herself, Olivor sings an early version of "Pretty Girl". Written by Olivor with Kathy Wakefield, "Pretty Girl" latered appear on Olivor's In Concert and Safe Return albums.
Olivor also eased her way into the burgeoning New York City cabaret scene of the early 1970s. She appeared at the Reno Sweeney cabaret, owned and operated by Lewis Friedman and Eliot Hubbard, which Vito Russo described as "the center of the universe during the now-legendary cabaret revival of the early 1970s". Working steadily in the New York City cabaret scene, Olivor became noticeable enough for the Columbia Records label and the William Morris Agency to sign her. Her debut album, First Night, released in 1976, was named Stereo Review's Album of the Year.
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