Corky Hale

Corky Hale, born Merrilyn Hecht on July 3, 1936, in Freeport, Illinois, is an American jazz harpist, pianist, flutist, and vocalist whose career has also encompassed theater production, political activism, and entrepreneurship, including ownership of a women's clothing store in Los Angeles. She is married to Mike Stoller of the Leiber-Stoller songwriting team.

Growing up in Freeport, Hale had mastered piano, harp, flute, and cello by her teenage years. Her formal musical training took place at the Chicago Music Conservatory and at Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan. At sixteen she enrolled at Stephens College for her final year of high school. Following graduation, she sought to relocate to Hollywood as a working musician, but her father directed her instead to the University of Wisconsin–Madison. After a year there she left again with Hollywood in mind, ultimately reaching a compromise with her parents that brought her to UCLA.

During the 1950s Hale established herself as a studio musician in Hollywood, contributing harp to recordings by Chet Baker, June Christy, Ella Fitzgerald, Anita O'Day, and Frank Sinatra. She performed as a vocalist alongside Freddy Martin at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, and after Jerry Gray invited her to play with his band in Las Vegas, she served as pianist for Billie Holiday and subsequently accompanied Holiday on tour. As a solo recording artist she made the album Corky Hale Plays George Gershwin and Vernon Duke with Buddy Collette, Howard Roberts, and Chico Hamilton. On October 12, 1968, she appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, accompanying Tony Bennett and performing a solo vocal number.

Over the course of her career Hale has worked alongside Liberace, Barbra Streisand, Elkie Brooks, Harry James, Peggy Lee, James Brown, Spike Jones, George Michael, and Björk, among others. Her discography as a leader includes Modern Harp Vol. 17 (GNP, 1956), Harp Beat (Stash, 1985), Harp! the Herald Angels Swing (LaserLight, 1995), and Have Yourself a Jazzy Little Christmas (LML Music, 1999). As a session contributor she appears on recordings by artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Roberta Flack, Judy Collins, Peggy Lee, Nina Simone, and Björk, spanning releases from the mid-1950s through the 2010s.

Hale made her Broadway appearance in 1979 in Up in One. Her work as a theater producer includes Give 'Em Hell, Harry, starring Jason Alexander, and Lullaby of Broadway, a profile of lyricist Al Dubin. She has performed at venues including Vibrato, Catalina Bar and Grill, Knickerbocker Saloon, the White House, and the Kennedy Center.

Beyond music and theater, Hale has been active in civic and political causes. While at the University of Wisconsin she was among a small number of white students to join the NAACP. She has served as a birth control teacher at Planned Parenthood in New York, sits on the National Advisory Board of NARAL, and is a board member of WRRAP. An American Film Institute associate, she founded Angel Harvest, an organization that redistributes surplus food from restaurants, hotels, and events to people in need in Los Angeles.