Singers from New York City

James Levy is an American, New York-based singer, songwriter, and producer.
Levy co-wrote and produced Charles Bradley's posthumous 2019 release Lonely as You Are, which Rolling Stone magazine called a "devastating masterclass." Another Charles Bradley single, Lucifer, is scheduled for release in May 2019. Levy was formerly the lead singer for the band Reputante, whose debut EP Oceanside was released in November 2013 on Cult Records. The record was produced by Tim Wheeler of the band Ash. The album reached A music video for the song "Deep Set Eyes" premiered in December 2013 in The Huffington Post. In early 2013, Reputante toured the US with UK band The Maccabees. and prior to that toured with Ash.
Levy is also a former member of the band Lolawolf along with Zoë Kravitz, Jimmy Giannopoulos, and Raviv Ullman.In 2012, James put out a record under the band name James Levy and The Blood Red Rose, which features Allison Pierce of The Pierces. Their album, Pray To Be Free, was released by Heavenly Recordings (2012) and received critical acclaim, including being included in the list of the top 100 albums of 2012 by French publication Les Inrocks. The album, produced by Coldplay bass player Guy Berryman, received four star reviews in MOJO, Q and Uncut magazines and was praised by the BBC, The Independent and The Sunday Times of London. US music magazine Popdose and UK publication indieLondon included the record on their top ten lists for 2012.A single, Sneak into My Room, spent several weeks in rotation and on the playlist of BBC Radio 6 Music and was featured as Q Magazine's "Track of the Day." A music video for "Hung To Dry," directed by Steve Birnbaum, was named one of the top 50 indie music videos of 2012. The band made other music videos featuring Brooklyn singers Aerial East ("Give Me Happiness") and Turner Cody ("Positively East Broadway").
James Levy and The Blood Red Rose performed live in session on several national radio shows in the UK, including sessions on BBC Radio 2 with both Jo Whiley and Dermot O'Leary and a session on BBC 6 Music with Lauren Laverne. The performance with Dermot O'Leary featured a cover of the Oasis track "Don't Look Back in Anger."Earlier in his career, Levy was the lead singer of the band LEVY, which released two albums on UK independent label One Little Indian. The band's debut album, Rotten Love, was included in a list by NME of "The 100 Greatest Albums You've Never Heard." A video for the song "Rotten Love" was featured on NME.com.The title track of LEVY's second record, Glorious, was covered by The Pierces and released as a single on their 2011 Polydor UK gold-certified album You & I. It received top ten airplay in the UK and was A-listed on BBC National Radio. The single peaked at No. 176 on the UK Singles Charts.Levy has also released solo material under the names Promising Young Talent and YVEL; additionally, he released the album Blood Red Rose in 2008.

Maxine Sullivan (May 13, 1911 – April 7, 1987), born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania, United States, was an American jazz vocalist and performer.
As a vocalist, Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just before her death in 1987. She is best known for her 1937 recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song "Loch Lomond". Throughout her career, Sullivan also appeared as a performer on film as well as on stage. A precursor to better-known later vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Sullivan is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of the 1930s. Singer Peggy Lee named Sullivan as a key influence in several interviews.

Gladys Alberta Bentley (August 12, 1907 – January 18, 1960) was an American blues singer, pianist, and entertainer during the Harlem Renaissance.
Her career skyrocketed when she appeared at Harry Hansberry's Clam House, a well-known gay speakeasy in New York in the 1920s, as a black, lesbian, cross-dressing performer. She headlined in the early 1930s at Harlem's Ubangi Club, where she was backed up by a chorus line of drag queens. She dressed in men's clothes (including a signature tail coat and top hat), played piano, and sang her own raunchy lyrics to popular tunes of the day in a deep, growling voice while flirting with women in the audience.
On the decline of the Harlem speakeasies with the repeal of Prohibition, she relocated to southern California, where she was billed as "America's Greatest Sepia Piano Player" and the "Brown Bomber of Sophisticated Songs". She was frequently harassed for wearing men's clothing. She tried to continue her musical career but did not achieve as much success as she had had in the past. Bentley was openly lesbian early in her career, but during the McCarthy Era she started wearing dresses and married, claiming to have been "cured" by taking female hormones.

Ashley Putnam (born 10 August 1952) is an American soprano from New York City. Her professional singing career began in 1976 and has spanned over 30 years.

Mary Allin Travers (November 9, 1936 – September 16, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter who was known for being in the famous 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Travers grew up amid the burgeoning folk scene in New York City's Greenwich Village, and she released five solo albums. She sang in the contralto range.