Corky Hale
WRRAP Board Member
Corky Hale is a renown American jazz harpist, pianist, flutist, and vocalist. She has been a theater producer, political activist, restaurateur, and the owner of the Corky Hale women’s clothing store in Los Angeles, California.
During the 1950s, Corky was a studio musician in Hollywood, playing harp on albums by Chet Baker, June Christy, Ella Fitzgerald Anita O’Day, and Frank Sinatra. She worked as a vocalist with Freddy Martin at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles. Jerry Gray invited her to perform with his band at Las Vegas, where she played piano for Billie Holiday and accompanied her on tour. As a solo act, she recorded the album Corky Hale Plays George Gershwin and Vernon Duke with Buddy Collette, Howard Roberts, and Chico Hamilton. In the 1960s she accompanied Tony Bennett on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1970, Hale married Mike Stoller of the Leiber-Stoller songwriting team.
Corky has worked with Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Elkie Brooks, Tony Bennett, Billie Holiday, Harry James, Peggy Lee, James Brown, Spike Jones, George Michael and Björk. She has also produced plays, including Give ‘Em Hell, Harry, starring Jason Alexander and Lullaby of Broadway, a profile of the lyricist Al Dubin. She has appeared at Vibrato, Catalina Bar & Grill, The White House, and the Kennedy Center.
At the University of Wisconsin, Corky Hale was one of the few white students to join the NAACP. She was a birth control teacher at Planned Parenthood in New York and is currently on the National Advisory Board of NARAL. She is an American Film Institute associate and is the founder of Angel Harvest, an organization which redistributes unused food from restaurants, hotels, and events to hungry and needy people in Los Angeles.