Roy Kral born 10 October 1921

Roy Kral (October 10, 1921 – August 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist and vocalist, born in Cicero, Illinois. Known for his partnership with his wife Jackie Cain as the team Jackie and Roy, he was also the brother of the singer Irene Kral and the father of actress Tiffany Bolling. 

Kral's parents were Joseph F. and Georgiana Kral. His father was a politician in Cicero. As a child, Kral studied classical piano, but his interest changed to jazz in the 1930s During World War II, Kral served in the Army as an arranger for the Army band. When he returned to Chicago, he joined the George Davis Quartet. 

Roy first joined forces with Jackie Cain in 1946, and in 1996 they celebrated their 50th anniversary as a vocal duo. Jackie and Roy's stint with Charlie Ventura's band in 1948 and 1949 brought them recognition; Lou Stein's "East of Suez" was an unusual feature for their voices. 

Shortly after leaving Ventura in June 1949, they were married and worked together on a regular basis thereafter. Jackie and Roy had their own television show in Chicago in the early 1950s, worked in Las Vegas from 1957 to 1960, settled in New York City in 1963, and appeared on some television commercials. 

                               

Performing and recording as Jackie and Roy, Ms. Cain and Mr. Kral, who was also a gifted pianist, created polished interpretations of Broadway standards, jazz tunes and even Beatles songs. They sang in a sophisticated bebop style, enunciating the lyrics crisply and playfully and often forgoing lyrics altogether for energetic scat singing. 

“Such is their affinity that when they sing harmonies, her airy high tones cushioned by his supple, swinging lows, their notes could be holding hands,” Lloyd Sachs wrote in The Chicago Sun-Times in 1997. Their voices had similar ranges but were separated by an octave, which made for unusual harmonies. Their easy banter, and Ms. Cain’s striking good looks and sunny personality, added to the appeal of their music, which was routinely praised by jazz critics. Ms. Cain’s admirers included fellow singers like Billie Holiday, who once said of her to Metronome magazine, “She’s my girl.” 

They recorded many performances for a variety of record labels through the decades, and performed until Roy Kral died of congestive heart failure on August 2, 2002 in Montclair, New Jersey at 80 years old. Fairly early in their career, Jackie and Roy were befriended by composer Alec Wilder, who wrote the liner notes for one of their earliest albums, Jackie Cain and Roy Kral (1955). They had always favoured Wilder's songs and, ten years after his death, paid tribute by recording an entire album of them, An Alec Wilder Collection.

Jacqueline Ruth "Jackie" Cain (May 22, 1928 – September 15, 2014)  died at her home in Montclair, New Jersey of complications from a stroke she had in 2010. She was 86. 

Douglas Martin of The New York Times called Jackie and Roy "the most famous vocal duo in jazz history."   (Edited from Wikipedia & NY Times)

Jackie Cain and Roy Krall perform two standards in their inimitable style in Living Color on NBC's Chevy Show. Sunday May 28, 1961.