Dr. John born 20 November 1941

Dr. John. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk. 

Dr John’s real name was Malcolm John Rebennack. His father ran an appliance shop in the East End of New Orleans, fixing radios and televisions and selling records. “Mac” grew up listening to his father’s hoard of 78s by blues artists such as Big Bill Broonzy and Memphis Minnie, jazz by Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and King Oliver, and country music from Hank Williams and Roy Rogers. 

His family was intensely musical, with numerous aunts, uncles and cousins who were amateur musicians. From a young age Mac attended local gigs and, with his father’s assistance, visited recording sessions at the fabled J&M Studio. It was a meeting with the piano player Professor Longhair when he was 14 that persuaded him to pursue a musical career, and he began performing at local clubs. When Jesuit high school told him he must choose between schooling and music, he picked the latter. Proficient on piano and guitar, at 15 he began playing on recording sessions and accompanied artists such as Art Neville, Toussaint and Joe Tex. By 16 he had started producing tracks and was hired as an artists and repertoire man by Johnny Vincent at Ace Records. 

In 1960 he was involved in a fight when playing a show in Jackson, Mississippi, and had the ring finger of his left hand almost shot off. He eventually recovered the use of the finger, but it affected his guitar playing and caused him to concentrate on the piano. Working in the New Orleans clubs, he became embroiled in the criminal underworld of drugs and prostitution, and acquired a heroin addiction while dealing drugs himself. After completing a two-year jail sentence in Fort Worth, Texas, for drug possession in 1965, he moved to Los Angeles and soon was in great demand as a studio session musician. He played on countless tracks for the producer Phil Spector for artists including the Ronettes and the Righteous Brothers, worked with Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack, recorded with Bob Dylan and Doug Sahm and played with Frank Zappa, until Zappa sacked him for using drugs. 

                                    

His album Gris-Gris, was recorded on studio time borrowed from Sonny & Cher, with whom he had been working in Los Angeles and who had helped him secure a deal with Atco records. Produced by Harold Battiste, it marked the first appearance of Rebennack’s pseudonym Dr John Creaux, alias Dr John the Night Tripper. After The Sun, Moon & Herbs he brought out the album Dr John’s Gumbo (1972). Following the positive reaction to In the Right Place in 1973, his next album, Desitively Bonnaroo (1974), was much less successful and it proved to be his last album with Atco. He moved to United Artists for the live album Hollywood Be Thy Name (1975), which was also unsuccessful. 

From the mid-70s onwards Dr John began a long partnership with the songwriter Doc Pomus that led to songs for his albums City Lights and Tango Palace (both 1979). He then made the solo piano album Dr John Plays Mac Rebennack (1981), a virtuosic showcase of his keyboard skills, and repeated the feat with The Brightest Smile in Town (1983). In 1989, the year he signed to Warner Bros and finally put his heroin addiction behind him, he released In a Sentimental Mood, a sleekly-produced collection of standards including Makin’ Whoopee, a duet with Rickie Lee Jones that earned the pair a Grammy for best jazz vocal performance. He won another Grammy for his second Warners album Goin’ Back to New Orleans (1992), this time for best traditional blues album. 

In 1994 he published his autobiography, Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of The Night Tripper (co-written with Jack Rummel), a lurid memoir of his musical life in New Orleans that did not shy away from details about drugs, violence, prostitution and the dark side of the music industry. Nonetheless he was beginning to assume the aura of a respected senior citizen, winning a third Grammy in 1996 for the track SRV Shuffle from the album A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan, and a fourth in 2000 for his duet with BB King on Is You Is Or Is You Ain’t My Baby. Duke Elegant (2000) comprised John’s takes on favourite Duke Ellington pieces, while Mercernary (2006) was his tribute to another classic songwriter, Johnny Mercer. 

The obliteration of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 spurred Dr John to release the fundraising EP Sippiana Hericane, and then City That Care Forgot (2008), an album-length tribute to his grievously wounded home town. It won him Grammy number five, in the best contemporary blues album category, and in 2013 Locked Down brought him a sixth for best blues album. New Orleans was on his mind once again when he made Ske-Dat-De-Dat: Spirit of Satch (2014), a homage to Armstrong, the city’s founding father of jazz. . He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011.  On June 6, 2019, Dr. John died of a heart attack in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 77 years.

(Edited from Adam Sweeting obit @ The Guardian)

 

J.D. Sumner born 19 November 1924

J.D. Sumner (November 19, 1924 – November 16, 1998) was an American gospel singer, songwriter, and music promoter noted for his bass voice, and his innovation in the Christian and Gospel music fields. Sumner sang in five quartets and was a member of the Blackwood Brothers during their 1950s heyday. Aside from his incredibly low bass voice, Sumner's business acumen helped promote Southern Gospel and move it into the mainstream of American culture and music during the 1950s and 1960s. 

Sunny South Quartet (JD far right)

John Daniel Sumner, nicknamed Jim Dandy or J.D., was born in Lakeland, Florida. Like so many Southern singers of his generation, he sang in church from an early age. He began his career with the Sunny South Quartet from 1945 to 1948. The quartet was headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and was sponsored by the Dixie Lily Flour Company. In 1949, Sunny South manager Horace Floyd relocated the quartet to Orlando, but Sumner stayed behind in Tampa where he maintained the sponsorship and started a new group, the Dixie Lily Harmoneers, which he sang with for a few months. 

Later in 1949, J. D. Sumner left the Dixie Lily Harmoneers and moved up to Atlanta, Georgia, where he joined the Sunshine Boys. They split their time between Atlanta and Wheeling, West Virginia, with the occasional trip to Hollywood to sing in Western movies. The lineup of Fred Daniel on tenor, Ed Wallace on lead, Ace Richman on baritone, and J. D. on bass continued on for five years until June 30, 1954. On June 30, 1954, tragedy struck the Blackwood Brothers Quartet when a disastrous test run in their private plane cost the lives of baritone R. W. Blackwood and bass singer Bill Lyles. 

J. D. Sumner was immediately hired by the Blackwood Brothers to sing with them to replace Lyles. Cecil Blackwood joined at the same time to replace his brother R. W. on baritone. J. D. sang with the Blackwood Brothers Quartet from 1954 until 1965. While he was with the Blackwoods, Sumner brought the idea of traveling cross country in a tour bus rather than flying, and was the first professional musical group to do so in any genre. He also established the National Quartet Convention along with James Blackwood to showcase the various quartets in the industry and the convention became an annual festival and mainstay in the industry that continues to this day. 

                            Here’s “I Believe” from above album. 

                                     

It was also during this time he met Elvis Presley who lived in Memphis, Tennessee, as a young boy and would attend the all night sings at The Ellis Auditorium. Presley was an avid fan of Southern Gospel music and groups such as the Blackwood Brothers and the Statesmen Quartet. Sumner recalled that Presley had missed a concert one month, and Sumner inquired why he did not attend. Presley replied he had no money to get into the show, and Sumner said "Son you come find me when you want to get in, money or not." Sumner then told his group mates to let Presley in the back stage door so he could attend. Years later, Presley would try out for the Songfellows Quartet, a group associated with the Blackwood Brothers, though did not receive an invitation to join.

In 1962, J. D. Sumner became the manager of the Stamps Quartet, and three years later, he left the Blackwood Brothers to sing with them. Sumner was most noted as the leader of the Stamps Quartet, which became known as J. D. Sumner & the Stamps. As a teenager, Elvis Presley idolized Sumner's singing after seeing him perform with the Sunshine Boys. Presley hired Sumner & the Stamps as his back-up singers in 1971. The group toured and recorded with Presley from November 1971 until Presley's death in 1977. Sumner not only sang at Elvis' funeral but had previously sung at the funeral of Elvis' mother Gladys in 1958. J. D. and the Stamps opened for Jerry Lee Lewis in 1980 in the United Kingdom, the Stamps only overseas performance.

After the Stamps Quartet disbanded in 1980, Sumner with Hovie Lister, Jake Hess, Rosie Rozell, and James Blackwood formed the Masters V as a special consolidation of members of the Blackwood Brothers Quartet and Statesmen Quartet. The group was a showcase for Sumner's voice and compositions and won the 1981 Grammy Award for best traditional gospel performance. Sumner was credited not only for his singing, songwriting, and concert promotions, but was also noted for being the first to customize a coach bus for the entertainment business to use for music groups. 

After the Masters V disbanded in 1988, Sumner reformed the Stamps Quartet and performed with the group until his death in 1998. He was often seen in his latter years appearing as a guest artist on the Bill Gaither Homecoming videos. After Sumner's death, lead singer Ed Enoch, a member of the Stamps since 1969, took over the group and renamed it "Ed Enoch and the Golden Covenant." 

On November 16, 1998, three days before his 74th birthday, J.D. Sumner was found dead of a heart attack in his hotel room in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while on tour with the Stamps Quartet. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

Alain Barrière born 18 November 1935

Alain Barrière (18 November 1935 – 18 December 2019) was a French singer, who was active from the 1950s until his death and was known for participating in the Eurovision Song Contest 1963. He became one of the best-known and well respected singer-songwriter in all French countries over the world.   

Alain Bellec was born in La Trinité-sur-Mer and grew up in Brittany as the son of hardworking fishmongers. Once Alain finished his secondary education, he left for Angers, where he enrolled in the École nationale supérieure d'arts et métiers. He devoted himself wholeheartedly to a future career in engineering, but in 1958 he was bitten by the music bug. The young student promptly went out, bought a guitar and began composing his first melodies. The following year, he went on to discover the modernist poetry penned by the likes of Francis Carco and Robert Desnos. This inspired him to begin setting words to his music and he soon started playing his early compositions to student friends. After graduating in 1960, he landed his first job, working for a tyre manufacturer in the Paris suburbs. Meanwhile, Alain, still gripped by his musical passion, spent his evenings performing at a small cabaret in the city centre. 

In 1961, Alain Bellec adopted his stage name, Alain Barrière, and entered the "Coq d’or" young talents contest. The final of the competition was held at the prestigious Olympia music-hall in Paris where the young singer-songwriter scooped first prize with his song, "Cathy." Rock and 'yéyé' (French rock'n'roll) were just beginning to take off on the French music scene, but Alain Barrière fitted into neither category. Nevertheless, French record companies took an interest in the young singer's original 'chanson' style and he soon went on to sign his first record deal. 

This allowed him to leave his day job and earn a living performing at smaller venues on the Paris circuit. It was not until 1963 that Alain Barrière's career really took off in earnest, however, with the release of the single "Elle était si jolie." The young singer-songwriter was chosen to represent France at that year's Eurovision Song Contest and, although he finally finished fifth overall, this gave him access to a much wider audience. Barrière went on to support Paul Anka on a concert tour – and realised it was time to perfect his live technique! 

                                    

Alain Barrière went on to release his debut album at the end of 1964. It bore the title of one of his most popular songs, "Ma vie" (My Life). He found himself performing as the headlining act at the Olympia and the entire French nation soon had his song on their lips. Barrière had turned into one of the fastest-rising stars of the day, but he appeared to be uncomfortable about fitting into the commercial system. Instead of playing the rock star and living it up with a champagne and drugs lifestyle, he used the proceeds from his debut album to buy an old millhouse in the Yvelines region. 

He lived here as a recluse over the next few years, with no-one but his dogs for company and worked on new material at night. In 1965 he was offered, and accepted, a leading role in a heist thriller, Pas de panique, alongside Pierre Brasseur. This would be his only venture into acting, but his singing career reached its peak in the latter part of the decade with a string of hits making him one of France's biggest stars and a sell-out live attraction. 

Barrière had gained a reputation for being uncompromising and at times difficult to work with. In the early 1970s he left his record company to set up his own label. He kept his fanbase, which ensured his records and concerts continued to provide a good living, despite his being overlooked by sections of the French broadcast media. "Tu t'en vas", a 1975 duet with fellow Eurovision veteran Noëlle Cordier, topped the French chart, and was the third biggest-selling single of the year in Switzerland. 

Barrière married in 1975, and he and his wife opened a nightclub-restaurant in a converted castle in Brittany. Although it proved a successful and popular venue, Barrière soon found himself facing severe tax problems as a result of dubious advice. In 1977 he took his family to the United States, where they remained for four years. 

After returning to France, Barrière made several comeback attempts, to little avail. After another period spent overseas, this time in Quebec, the family were back in Brittany when Barrière's career was unexpectedly rejuvenated by the 1997 release of a CD containing remastered versions of his old hits, which proved to be a money-spinner. Shortly afterwards, Barrière released an album of new material, which also sold well. In September 2003, the singer performed his final farewell concert in "Le Stirwen," bowing out after a career spanning four decades. He published an autobiography in 2006 and continued to release both retrospective and newly recorded albums. 

Barrière died of cardiac arrest at Carnac, Morbihan, in France on the  18th December 2019, at the age of 84.

Iain Sutherland born 17 November 1948

Iain Sutherland (17 November 1948 - 25 November 2019) and his brother Gavin Sutherland (born 6 October 1951) were a Scottish folk and soft rock duo. 

Iain George Sutherland was born in Ellon maternity hospital in Aberdeenshire in 1948 and spent his earliest years in Peterhead. His father George was a civil servant who also played fiddle in his own band, everything from Glenn Miller to reels and strathspeys. Iain’s mother Eileen sang. The family moved to Blythe Bridge, near Stoke, because of George’s work. Iain and Gavin learned guitar at an early age and Iain had his own band called The Mysteries while still at school. 

When they were children, Iain and Gavin would learn chords and harmonies by listening to Everly Brothers records over and over again and then trying to copy them. Years later they heard a version of Arms of Mary on which the Everly Brothers replicated the Sutherland Brothers’ own arrangement. A continent and several decades away, the legendary American duo had repaid the debt. 

Initially school was quite challenging for the boys, whose accent and dialect were “full-on Peterheid”. Nevertheless Iain got a place at Manchester University and might have gone on to become an architect, but he decided instead to try to make a living with his band. In the early 1960s the brothers moved to London, which was essentially the location of the British music industry at that time, sharing a room in a flat in West Kensington. They were always close. And although he was the quieter of the two, Iain was always protective and supportive of his younger sibling. 

                                   

They saw themselves primarily as songwriters, rather than singers, but secured a deal with Island Records and in 1971 they released their first album entitled Sutherland Brothers Band. Sailing was their third single, a quite different take from that of Rod Stewart. Although it was influenced by their background in the fishing communities of the North-East, it was really about the spiritual journey through life, rather than a physical journey. It was also influenced by their familiarity with the Kirk and hymns. 

They linked up with the band Quiver at the end of 1972 and began to build a discerning audience with their melodic blend of folk, rock and pop. In May 1973 they were playing the Civic Centre in Motherwell, by September they were playing the Holywood Bowl and Madison Square Garden, New York, as support for Elton John. They found Elton courteous and professional, connecting over chat about football. He was a Watford fanatic, they followed Stoke City.

Sutherland Brothers and Quiver were probably more popular in the US than they ever were in the UK. They had a hit in North America in 1973 with (I Don’t Want to Love You But) You Got Me Anyway. They wrote a couple of songs specifically for Rod Stewart and worked with him on demos with the intention that he would record one of them for his 1975 album Atlantic Crossing. It came as surprise to them when they discovered he had recorded Sailing. They did not even recognise it at first. It was only when he started singing that they recognised their song. No one knew then just how phenomenally successful it would become, selling over a million copies in the UK. It was credited to Gavin as writer, though he said he and Iain wrote it together. 

In 1976 the Sutherland Brothers and Quiver headlined at the Glasgow Apollo and the Usher Hall in Edinburgh (£1 for the upper tier) and with the success of Arms of Mary they found themselves “graduating” from Old Grey Whistle Test to Top of the Pops. The Sutherland Brothers released eight albums during the 1970s, six of them with Quiver, and had a few other minor hits before disbanding. 

Both of the Sutherland brothers attempted to launch solo careers on their own during the early '80s, but both failed to retain the audience of their previous band. Iain had returned to the Stoke area, where he had his own music studio. Iain’s last solo album was Back To The Sea in 2015. “I just write and record for my own purposes and if anyone is interested, all well and good. The sort of stuff I write is difficult to categorise - maybe it’s folk, but it harks back to our Scottish roots.”  

Iain died died peacefully at home in Wollerton, Shropshire, after an undisclosed illness on 25 November 2019, aged 71. Gavin is still recording and his most recent album A Fragile World, was released on Bandcamp during October 2024. He currently posts on Facebook. 

(Edited from The Scotsman, AllMusic & Gavin Sutherland Music)

 

W.C. Clark born 16 November 1939

W.C. Clark (November 16, 1939 – March 2, 2024) was an American blues musician. He is known as the "Godfather of Austin Blues" for his influence on the Austin, Texas blues scene since the late 1960s. 

Wesley Curley Clark was born and raised in Austin, and grew up in its segregated east side, singing Gospel in in the choir at St. Johns College Heights Baptist Church, and learning guitar at the age of 14. Clark played his first solo show at the city’s legendary Victory Grill at the age of 16, and learned all kinds of styles, including jazz and R&B. He found his first major gig playing in the band of Joe Tex, who was famous for fusing R&B with soul and country. It was this early experience with the “rub” between genres that would make W.C. Clark so important to all aspects of Austin music. 

The gig with Joe Tex took W.C. Clark all around the United States, which was good because at the time, W.C. felt the scene in the Texas Capital had grown stale. But when he returned, he found a new crop of young White performers hanging out on Austin’s east side and learning from the oldtimers. This renewed the energy in the Austin blues scene, especially through two brothers originally from the south Dallas area—guitarist Jimmie Vaughan who would go on to found The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and his little brother named Stevie Ray. 

W. C. Clark formed his own band called Southern Feeling in the mid/late ’70s, and started taking songwriting more seriously. Through this time, Stevie Ray Vaughn kept coming by to hear W.C. Clark play, admiring W.C.’s guitar skills and writing. Eventually along with Lou Ann Barton, the three would form the now legendary Triple Threat Revue in September of 1977, which was a blues explosion in Austin, and set the standard for the Austin blues scene. 

When W.C. Clark left the trio in May of 1978, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble came to life, but the influence of W.C. Clark would remain, while Clark found world-renown success all his own through a solo career. Clark played with the likes of B.B. King, James Brown, along with Albert King and Freddie King throughout the era. Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan weren’t W.C. Clark’s only protégé’s. Brothers Will and Charlie Sexton also became big acolytes of the W.C. Clark sound, with Charlie Sexton carrying that influence on as a producer and a mainstay in the band of Bob Dylan, speaking to W.C. Clark’s far-reaching impact. 

                        Here’s “My Texas Home” from above CD

                                     

Clark released his first solo album called Something for Everybody in 1986 on his own label. He famously appeared on the vaunted Austin City Limits TV show in 1990, with Stevie Ray, Jimmie, Lou Ann Barton, Will Sexton, and others showing up to pay respects to their mentor. W.C. Clark would later release Heart of Gold in 1994, and Texas Soul in 1996 on the BlackTop label. Texas Soul won a WC Handy Award for “Soul Blues Album of The Year.” 

In 1997, tragedy struck W. C. Clark when his tour van was involved in a fatality accident near Sherman, TX while returning to Austin for SXSW from a show in Milwaukee. Clark only injured his arm, but his fiancée and drummer Brenda Jasek died in the accident. Clark was driving the van, and this sent both his personal life and his professional career in a tailspin. The experience would later inspire Clark’s 1998 album Lover Plea, and the song  “Are You Here, Are You There?” dedicated to his fiancée. Throughout his career, he has released 8 albums, with W.C. Clark being his last in 2018. 

In recent years, W.C. Clark had settled into being considered the preeminent blues legend of Austin, while also touring regularly. In 2016 he appeared with his song Rough Edges on the album Texas Blues Voices by Italian harmonica player and Grammy Nominee, Fabrizio Poggi.  Clark played his final show at Austin, TX honky tonk Giddy Ups in Manchaca on February 20th, and reportedly entered hospice care shortly thereafter as he was diagnosed with cancer. He died on March 2, 2024 at Christopher House hospice in Austin. He was 84. 

His soulful voice, masterful guitar playing, and unwavering dedication to mentoring the next generation of musicians has ensured that his influence would be felt for generations to come. Wesley Curley Clark's life and career stand as a testament to the power of music to inspire, transform, and unite, making him a true legend of the blues world. 

(Edited from Saving Country Music, Discogs & Austin American Statesman)

 

Seldon Powell born 15 November 1928

Seldon Powell (15 November 1928 – 25 January 1997) was an American soul jazz, swing, and R&B tenor saxophonist and flautist born in Lawrenceville, Virginia. 

A veteran tenor saxophonist and flutist, Seldon Powell adjusted and honed his style over the years, being flexible enough to play anything from swing to hard bop and in between. He wasn't the greatest soloist, most ambitious composer, or most spectacular arranger; he was simply a good, consistent player who survived many changes and trends to remain active from the late '40s until the '90s. 

Born in Lawrenceville, Virginia Powell’s first musical studies were at Brooklyn and New York Conservatories 1947-49. His first professional performance was in 1949 with the band of Betty Mays, then briefly with Tab Smith before joining Lucky Millinder and recording with him in 1950. During his military service (1951-2) he continued his playing career, playing in bands in France and Germany where he was stationed. 

                                    

After receiving his discharge, he established himself in New York as a freelance and studio musician. At this time he formed associations with Sy Oliver and Erskine Hawkins, and recorded as a leader and with Neal Hefti (1955), Louie Bellson (1955), Friedrich Gulda (1956), Johnny Richards (1957-8), and the composer Billy Ver Planck (1957-8). He also graduated at the Julliard School in 1957.

In 1958 he traveled to Europe with Benny Goodman’s band and then he played briefly with Woody Herman. In the 1960’s he worked chiefly for ABC TV but he also played and recorded with Buddy Rich (1960), Bellson (1962-4), Clark Terry (1963), and Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1964). 

His numerous recordings as a studio musician include many made in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s with soul and soul-jazz musicians, including Groove Holmes (c.1973), and sessions in the big bands that accompanied Gato Barbieri (1974) and Anthony Braxton and Dizzy Gillespie (both 1976). He performed as a principal soloist in Gerry Mulligan’s 16 piece orchestra at the JVC Jazz Festival, New York, in 1987.  He recorded as a leader for Roost and Epic. 

His last recording session as leader was for his album End Play in June 1993 followed by a session with Joe Wlder during August 1993. 

Seldon Powell died 27^th January 1997 in Hempstead, New York. 

(Edited from the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, AllMusic & Wikipedia)

Meg Myles born 14 November 1934

Meg Myles (November 14, 1934 – November 12, 2019) was an American pin-up model, singer, and actress on stage and screen, active mostly in the 1950s and 1960s. 

She was born Billie Jean Jones in Seattle, WA, between 1932 and 1934 (as some sources disagree) and took dance lessons as a girl. She was determined to have a career in show business, majoring in dance and health education at the College of the Pacific, and was discovered and signed by an agent before she graduated. Her extraordinary physique -- a reputed 42-24-36 -- led to walk-on parts on television shows with Bob Hope, among other stars. Although Myles' early appearances were limited to being a living set decoration, she was determined to develop her acting skills as well as her singing, which led to engagements at various West Coast nightclubs. 

Her physique made her a favorite of men's magazines of the era, but in 1954 she landed a small comic relief role -- involving singing and her physique -- in the feature film Dragnet, portraying a Cuban singer. The following year, she played a singer in Phil Karlson's feature The Phenix City Story (1955), in which she sang the title song. Myles was also selected to perform on the national tour promoting the movie, and got a major label recording contract out of it. 

                                   

Her singing career included the Mercury LP "At the Living Room" (1963), one on the Liberty label with jazzman Jimmie Rowles, "Just Meg and Me" (1957) an obscure album “Spotlight On Meg Myles” on the Tiara label from the mid 50’s also a few singles including a  post-apocalyptic 45 on Liberty, "Thirteen Men". 

The late '50s saw her largely absent from the big screen, however, despite the fact that she was one of the top pin-up models in the world at the time. According to some accounts, she was blackballed from the industry because of her insistence on restricting the types of costumes and still photographs in which she would allow herself to appear, and also due to reports of an alleged romance between her and Sammy Davis Jr. (the United States was just entering the era of raised consciousness about its racial problems at the time, and even rumors of such a relationship would have made her too controversial for many producers). 

Myles' major screen appearance during this period was in Calypso Heat Wave, which also included Joel Grey, the Treniers, the Tarriers, the Hi-Lo's, and Maya Angelou in its cast. Myles was mostly seen on television until 1961, when she got a major role in the movie Satan in High Heels. Considered a campy classic today, the movie was an outrageous piece of exploitation filmmaking in its time and one that did Myles little good in trying for a mainstream Hollywood career. Meg married TV producer Bob Duncan in 1965. They divorced in 1982. 

She mostly worked on-stage for the next few years, developing a following in New York City and honing her skills as an actress. In 1966, she played possessive mother Harriett Wilson on the daytime soap opera The Doctors. She surfaced in Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff (1968), and Sidney Lumet's The Anderson Tapes (1971), by which time Myles was much better known for her theatrical work, including performances at the New York Shakespeare Festival. She also appeared on the soap, Where The Heart Is (1970) and in the film drama Touched (1982). 

In the 1980s she was regular on the daytime television mystery serial The Edge of Night as restaurant owner Sid Brennan, and had a year-long role on All My Children as Joanna Yeager, Stuart Chandler's secret wife. After a year on Search For Tomorrow as the kindly Maevis Stone (mother of heroine Evie Stone), she returned to All My Children for a stint as Joanna, in the spring of 1987. Her last film role was in Delinquent (1995). By the turn of the millennium she was working in several off-Broadway plays and with small theater groups. 

During her later years she looked after injured birds in her New York City home and was known as the Upper West Side’s bird healer, tending to pigeons, kestrels, jays, finches, robins, ducks, song birds, cardinals and a goose. Animal Care & Control estimated that Ms. Myles has rescued about 200 since 2006. 

According to IMDb, Myles died at the age of 84 in a Southern California rest home on November 12, 2019, and was featured on the Tony Awards' "In Memoriam 2020" list. 

(Edited from AllMusic, Wikipedia, IMDb, Stella Star, Tracy Press & Wall Street Journal)