Sometimes called the heir apparent to Frank Sinatra, superstar Harry Connick, Jr. brought a crooner’s voice, lean good looks and a classic pop sensibility to jazz in the 1990s. Connick was a child prodigy in New Orleans, playing piano in French Quarter clubs and rubbing elbows with fellow jazz prodigies Wynton and Branford Marsalis. By 1987, he was in New York and had released his self-titled first album for Columbia. His 1998 album 20 was later followed by 25 and 30, plus many other jazz and swing albums. Connick composed the score to the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally and later turned to acting himself, playing a WWII flyboy in Memphis Belle (1990), wingman for Will Smith in Independence Day (1996), and a small-town Texas Romeo in Hope Floats. In 2001, he made his Broadway debut, scoring the New Orleans-tinged musical Thou Shalt Not. Post-2001: Connick released the big-band album Only You, featuring popular music from the ’50s and ’60s, and the more intimate releases Other Hours: Connick on Piano, Vol. 1 (2003) and Occasion: Connick on Piano, Vol. 2 (2005), which focused on Connick’s instrumental abilities. Ever devoted to his hometown, Connick was also heavily involved in the support and rebuilding of New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Connick once again expressed his deep love for his hometown with the release of his New Orleans tribute album, Oh, My Nola. In 2013, he released Every Man Should Know. Connick continues to tour the world.
