Baby jane dexter biography sample

Baby Jane Dexter, a cabaret singer who overwhelmed audiences with her robust vocal style and eclectic repertoire and who brought a tortured sense of poignancy to torch songs, died Tuesday at a retirement facility for entertainers in Englewood, New Jersey.

She was 72.

She had diabetes, heart ailments and an infection, said a sister, Dallas-Lee Brower.

Dexter first gained acclaim in the 1970s, when she appeared in New York nightclubs as a bluesy singer with a powerful voice and presence.

She dropped out of show business for a decade before returning to the stage in the 1990s, using elements from her personal life - her size, her experience of sexual assault and depression - to heighten the emotional intensity of her performances, which were often so intimate that they seemed to be exercises in group therapy.

“Baby Jane Dexter wields an eerie power and glory rarely found on a cabaret stage,” critic John Hoglund wrote in Back Stage East in 20