"Born singing," Carolyn Bruce grew up singing with her family. Four-part harmonies were the norm. Her mother had been a professional jazz singer in Chicago, and her two sisters are both pianists and teachers.

Carolyn was born in Detroit and moved with her musical family to Milwaukee, where she did summer stock as a singer / dancer in West Side Story (Rosalia) and Lil Abner while in her teens. Ms. Bruce also participated in Woody Herman’s Jazz Workshops in Chicago and has sung in a number of choirs, including “Collegium Musicum Vocale” at the University of Munich. Carolyn studied in Munich and Milwaukee and taught German and English for many years.

A lifetime of loving jazz and a chance encounter with Viennese jazz singer Jessica Slavik in an elevator in Vienna marked the beginning of her solo career.