Joanna Grammon is a singer, songwriter, and lyricist with a diverse musical career spanning several decades. She began as a folk singer before expanding into rock and blues, performing with bands in San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
From around 1971-1983, she was the vocalist for Upepo, a Portland-based jazz fusion and Latin band now in the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. A 1974 Oregonian review praised her “remarkable vocal flexibility” and noted she was equally at home in jazz, Latin, and Middle Eastern music.
In New York City, she sang for several months at the Red Rooster with organist Don Pullen, and was a regular at jazz venues like the Tin Palace on the Bowery. In the early 1980s, she worked as an office manager and booking agent for jazz artists, using a ZX Pro/File database to assist with booking musicians including a young Kevin Eubanks on college dates and arranging performances for avant-garde artists like Ornette Coleman.
After spending about 20 years in newspaper editing, she retired to the Columbia Gorge where she continues to sing and record. She maintains a Substack where she writes about her experiences in the jazz world and releases music on Bandcamp.