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Haunted Heart: A Biography of Susannah McCorkle

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This is an exhaustive biography of the jazz/cabaret singer Susannah McCorkle. The book features a blow-by-blow account of McCorkle's musical career and psychological processes. Why "psychological processes?" Susannah struggled with bipolar disorder for at least all of her adult life, if not longer. She took her life at the age of 55. It is therefore very relevant to showcase her mental state as a major focus of the book. I found it exhausting to read about all of her ups and downs. Think of how Susannah must have felt to live through them!

The other focus of the book of course, is a detailed account of her musical career. McCorkle started out as an aspiring author and one day in early adulthood heard a Billie Holiday recording and decided she wanted to sing jazz. Even though she still wrote short stories with some success, Susannah then started on the road to become a prominent, although always struggling, singer. I felt I was with Susannah as I read about her career and life. The author, Linda Dahl, brings this woman into sharp focus.

To me, one moral of this biography is, "take your meds, folks." Ms McCorkle was not taking her prescribed medicines when she died. I can't help but wonder if the outcome could have turned out differently.

HAUNTED HEART: A BIOGRAPHY OF SUSANNAH MCCORKLE isn't likely to reach the general interest, non-musical reader, for her name is likely to prove familiar only to those with an in-depth interest in female jazz vocalists. This audience, however, will find HAUNTED HEART a brilliant expose of a troubled American songbird, surveying her many achievements as she devleoped her own style and performed in venues around the world while struggling with bipolar disorder. From her emotional ups and downs to her influences on singers of the 70s through the 90s, HAUNTED HEART is a key piece of musical history not to be missed.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Haunted Heart by Linda Dahl is a biography of American cabaret singer Susannah McCorkle, who took her own life in May of 2001. The author seems to have had extensive cooperation of family members and friends in researching the book. McCorkle suffered from depression and bipolar disorder all of her adult life, and part of her childhood as well. Much of the book is given over to her illness.

Like many women, McCorkle was dissatisfied with her physical appearance, this combined with her mental illness no doubt contributed to her unhappiness. She was a large woman, though well-proportioned and not at all unattractive, but far from her own ideal of feminine beauty.

The author says McCorkle was in love with the idea of being in love (as in the song), she also seems to have been in love with the idea of being a cabaret singer. None of her many romances was entirely satisfactory, despite the fact that she was twice married to men who seem to have been loving and caring. Though a respected professional singer for over twenty years - winning several record of the year awards, her career was not actually very successful. She had a loyal, but small, following among New York's cabaret set, but was not otherwise highly sought after.

The shortcomings of both her personal and professional lives seem to have been related to an inability to compromise. Though, for example, her husband lived in Schenectady, NY, she insisted on living in New York City - even when not performing there. Likewise, she often complained about people talking during her shows and the noise of waiters serving food and drinks. She failed to accept the idea that a cabaret singer is supposed to "put butts on chairs", as someone puts it in the book, not give a master class on the subtlety of Cole Porter lyrics!

Susannah McCorkle comes across as having been a "user", viewing others merely as ways to achieve her goals - particularly musicians, critics, club owners, and others connected with the music business. Repeatedly, she is shown cultivating those whom she feels can advance her career, while ignoring, even dismissing, others. Many people helped her get started, paying for demo tapes, for example, or by encouraging owners of small restaurants and clubs to let her sing, if only for tips. Yet, there was no mention of her having helped others get started later on.

One story near the end of the book struck me as typical of her manipulative behavior. The manager of her favorite venue, the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel in New York remarked, that in Autumn of 2000, she had acted affectionate to him, even giving him a hug, which she had never done before. Later on in the book it comes up that she had taken pains to be affectionate with him, suggesting it was a conscious effort to do so, not a spontaneous act of friendship. Only months before she died, she was still "playing" people she thought were useful.

Significantly, she had few friends among professional musicians, though several friends were amateur musicians. For the most part, her close associates were writers and others connected with the arts and show business. Many of her acquaintances were themselves involved in psychotherapy, both as patients and practitioners.

McCorkle began her career as a writer, only later becoming a singer. She continued to write throughout her singing career, and worked (unsuccessfully) to become a novelist. Her singing style and careful phrasing reflected her interest in words and story telling. She often sought out original lyrics to old songs, and even taught herself Portuguese in order to translate Brazilian songs, so popular in clubs during the 70s and 80s.

The book itself is a little scholarly, perhaps, and not always easy to follow - for example, when the author quotes someone who is quoting someone else. I would have appreciated more frequent date references since the author attempts to intertwine McCorkle's career and personal life with the progress of her illness. The book is a well-documented and carefully researched biography of a person with a troubled personal and professional life. Recommended.

Linda Dahl's biography of Mary Lou Williams was riddled with misinformation and agenda-driven deliberate distortions. This biography of Susannah McCorkle continues that approach as the author clearly seeks to cash in on a very personal tragedy. Those of us who knew Susannah will not recognize the doomed figure Dahl has created. A shameful exploitation.

Ms. Dahl seeks the "Why?" of Susannah McCorkle's suicide by probing every unhappy event of Ms. McCorkle's life, fosusing on the more difficult aspects of her personality and cataloguing the criticisms of her peers. This book is so unrelentingly negative and depressing that I almost forgot why I wanted to read it in the first place. Better are a couple of short appreciations of Ms. McCorkle in New York magazine and The New Yorker. Better still, listen to Ms. McCorkle's luminous recordings of Brazilian music on her record "Sabia" or any of her "Most Requested Songs".

It's also full of needling inaccuracies, which make it even harder to read. Still, I'll finish it, because I want to know how the author explains the run-up to McCorkle's tragic suicide. Dahl doesn't seem to like her subject very much, which is strange as she also seems obsessed by all the minutiae of her life. The jumping around in chronology also makes the narrative a bit confusing, which adds to the reader's difficulty in staying focused.

I've always considered McCorkle to be a consummate artist, but this biography appears to be somewhat of a hatchet job and my opinion of her has been sullied, to say the least.

As much a look into a tormented bipolar personality as a biography of a great modern singer of jazz standards, "Haunted Heart" is a fascinating, well-written read that kept me turning pages.