Biography
Los Angeles transplant Tracey Whitney debuted with her family singing group, The Whitney Family, at the famed nightspot “The Coconut Grove” when she was just 11 years old. For the next 15 years her family toured the U.S. and abroad, recorded – receiving an Emmy award nomination for the song “Early In The Morning” from the 1977 film, The Minstrel Man, while their album, “Whitney Family Airways” featured “Let Me Be Your Woman”, a Billboard Magazine “Top Singles Pick”. The Whitney’s did numerous TV shows, most notably the famed “Midnight Special,” performed in Vegas and Tahoe and more before Tracey was tapped to tour with “The Genius of Soul” Ray Chales as one of his world-famous “Raelettes” for the 1991 “You’ve Got The Right One Baby, Uh Huh!” Pepsi tour. She then spent 5 years singing solo in Tokyo, Yokohama, and Tokushima Japan before returning to her roots and the stage in Los Angeles.
Since relocating to Albuquerque in 2012, she’s been thrilling audiences throughout the city with her unique brand of classic jazz and sophisticated soul in some of the city’s most notable venues, including a residency with her show, “The Art of Jazz with Tracey Whitney”, in the Casablanca Room of the Hotel Andaluz, which was crowned “The Best Place for Jazz” in Albuquerque the Magazine. She’s also performed in concert for the Santa Fe Bandstand, St John’s College “Music on the Hill, Route 66 Summerfest, the New Mexico Jazz Workshop’s Women's Voices and Ladies Sing the Blues series – including the curated concerts “A Dangerous Creation: A Tribute to Johnny Otis" and ”A 60's Summer Suite", both co-written, produced and performed with award-winning singer/songwriter Zenobia at the Albuquerque Museum Amphitheater. Tracey produced “Guess Who I Saw Today?” a tribute honoring family friend and muse, Miss Nancy Wilson. The sold-out concerts were performed at both the African American Performing Arts Center and the Outpost Performance Space.
Tracey is a voting member of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Academy of Performing Arts and Sciences (aka The Grammy© Awards) and has performed in concert with contemporary jazz stars Nathan East, Marc Antoine, Euge Groove, Will Donato, Brian Simpson, Darren Rahn and Julian Vaughn. She’s the winner of the 2024 New Mexico Entertainment Awards “Top Musical Artist Solo Jazz/Blues” and received a 2024 Albuquerque Film + Music Experience Festival (AFMX) award for her “Contributions to Music in Albuquerque”, while her 3rd CD, “Live at the Outpost Performance Space” was a New Mexico Music Awards nominee for Best Vocal Performance.
Her exceptional career also includes serving as President of the Musicians Association of Albuquerque, Local 618 of the American Federation of Musicians (2017- 2023), representing the 250 musicians comprising the New Mexico Philharmonic, Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Opera and El Paso Symphony Orchestra; President of the Board of Directors of the African American Performing Arts Center Foundation (AAPAC); 2-term Music Commissioner for the State of New Mexico appointed by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham; Advisory Board member of the AFMX; Community Advisory Committee member of KHFM Classical Radio and the first Jazz Vocal Instructor at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe - the inspiration behind “Next Gen Jazz at Babydoll’s” where she’ll nurture the next generation of high school and college jazz singers and musicians on Sundays.
Through her partnership with Heritage Hotels & Resorts, Tracey has now realized a lifelong dream of owning her own nightclub, Babydoll’s House of Jazz & Blues, serving as both the owner-proprietor and resident performer with her band, The Art of Jazz with Tracey Whitney. Please visit https://babydollshouseofjazz.com/events for her schedule.
