Ronnie Wells

Born Veronica Burke on February 28, 1943 Wells came from a musical family and sang in her church choir, leading her own group when she was 13, both as a singer and as a pianist. She attended Howard University from 1960-1962, majoring in liberal arts. Her first experience singing jazz professionally was at age 20 with A Shade Mellow, a Washington, DC group consisting of five voices. Wells recorded with The Airmen of Note on Brothers in Blue (1974). Wells was an Assistant Professor in the University of Maryland's Department of Music from 1983 to 2002, where she developed and designed its first jazz vocal techniques workshop. In 1984 she started her own Jazz Karma label with her second husband, pianist Ron Elliston, who she typically performed and recorded with. She worked and recorded with the Widespread Jazz Orchestra and was featured on several songs on their 1985 album. Although she often had a day job, Wells toured Europe and South America, and frequently performed at the Kennedy Center, the Montpelier Arts Center in Laurel, Maryland, and at jazz festivals worldwide. She worked with her husband running the Elliston Music Studio for Jazz Studies; founded the Fish Middleton Jazz Scholarship Fund; and was one of the founders and directors of the five-day East Coast Jazz Festival, which began in 1992 and ran until 2006, before being revived after a hiatus by colleague Paul Carr. She passed away in 2007 after battling lung cancer. (February 28, 1943 – March 7, 2007)