Her Official Biography

"This wonderful singer thrills me when I hear her." Tony Bennett.

Wesla Whitfield is a remarkable singer, with a deep love for that rich storehouse of musical treasures often identified as The Great America Popular Songbook. Wesla has been developing her skills and learning her demanding craft for a number of years -by her own estimate, It’s been ever since she "knew at age two-and-a-half that I would grow up to be a singer." Her sound and approach would seem to place her somewhere in the intriguing area that borders on both jazz and that aspect of pop music which draws its material largely from the great standards and neglected gems of such as Cole Porter and Irving Berlin and Rodgers and Hart. Wesla Whitfield was born in Santa Maria, California. The youngest of three girls, she experienced routine childhood music training (piano lessons at age 7, sang in church, studied voice - "classical, of course" - at about age 14). She did discover her mother’s extensive sheet music collection at an early age, "and used it to sight-read." Serious radio and record listening provided some important influences including Rosemary Clooney, the Hi-Los, Peggy Lee, Frankie Laine and Dean Martin. Among her earliest professional experiences was a mid-70s stint with the San Francisco Opera as a salaried chorister. Wesla, with her husband / pianist / arranger, Mike Greensill performs annually at the Hollywood/Roosevelt Cinegrill, The Algonquin Hotel’s Oak Room and Arci’s Place in New York, at Blues Alley in Washington DC, Jazz Alley in Seattle, at the world renowned Pizza on the Park in London and for two months each winter in San Francisco at the York Hotel Plush Room as well as numerous concert venues throughout the States and Europe. She has opened at Michigan’s Meadowbrook, New Jersey’s Garden State Art Center and Flint Center in Cupertino for such notables as George Burns, Michael Feinstein and Frankie Laine. Solo symphonic appearances include two concerts with the San Francisco Symphony as well as San Jose, Sacramento, Omaha, Stockton, Napa, Auburn, Concord Pavilion, Santa Rosa and California Symphonies. Wesla has appeared twice on Garrison Keillor’s national show, "Prairie Home Companion", singing with the legendary trumpeter, Joe Wilder, on ‘Weekend Edition’ with Susan Stamberg, ‘On Fresh Air’ with Terry Gross, and on All Things Considered’ with Robert Siegel.

In other radio appearances, Wesla and Mike were recent guests on the highly revered Marian McPartland PBS ‘Piano Jazz’ series. In TV venues, the pair have been featured five times on the Charles Grodin show, performed on the Regis and Kathie Lee show, and were the subject of a feature story on America’s favorite TV show, ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ with Charles Osgood. In summer of ’95 Wesla and Michael appeared as part of the JVC Jazz Festival at Avery Fisher Hall in New York and also made their Carnegie Hall debut that same summer, participating in the Tribute to Frank Sinatra.Since then they have appeared in the ’96 Ella Fitzgerald, the ‘97 Nat Cole and the ‘98 Judy Garland tributes, also held at Carnegie Hall. In June of ‘96 they were invited by Hillary Clinton to perform at the White House. In October ‘98,Wesla debuted her one-woman, autobiographical show at the Kaufman Theater on 42nd street in New York to massive, critical acclaim.  In March of ‘99,Whitfield and Greensill performed their Rodgers and Hart show at Blues Alley in Washington, DC, The Jazz Standard in New York and as invited members of the repertory company and the ongoing salute to American Popular Song at LincolnCenter. Taking their highly acclaimed show "I'm In the Mood For Love", songs of Jimmy McHugh to Arci’s Place on Park Avenue South for a month’s run in New York in January of 2001, on to the Hollywood Roosevelt and then to the recording studio, for their thirteenth recording, titled "Let's Get Lost", released in Fall of 2000. In spring of 2001, Mike and Wesla were invited to San Francisco’s beloved Geary Theater for an all-new show, "Hooray For Hollywood" as part of this venue’s cabaret series including Betty Buckley and Barbara Cook. An exciting debut at the St.Louis MUNY Theater in the summer of 2001 featured Miss Whitfield in an all Gershwin review with choreography by Thommie Walsh, direction by Paul Blake and the orchestral arrangements of Mike Greensill as well as an ensemble cast including Harvey Evans, Pamela Isaacs and Karen Morrow. Their fourteenth recording, "Best Thing For You Would Be Me" featuring the songs of Irving Berlin was released in 2002. And a totally new concept album titled, "September Songs"  featuring songs by Harry Warren, Alec Wilder and Kurt Weill’ debuts their pairing with such greats as Tommy Flanagan and the Kronos Quartet. This latest venture, on the HighNote Records label is the fifteenth recording from Whitfield and Greensill and was released in May 2003.

End of the article.