Dianne Reeves (23 October 1956) is an American jazz singer from Detroit, Michigan, yet raised in Denver. She was born into a musical family as her father sang, her mother played the trumpet and her uncle, Charles Burrell is a bassist. In 1971 she started singing and playing piano. She was a member of her high school band, and while performing at a convention in Chicago she was noticed by trumpeter Clark Terry, who invited her to sing with him.
She ended up studying classical voice at the University of Colorado before moving to Los Angeles. This is where she met, sang and recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Lenny White and Billy Childs. She founded the band ‘Night Flight with Billy Childs,’ with whom she would collaborate again in the 1990s. She then moved to New York City and toured with Harry Belafonte from 1983 to 1986.