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Mary Bogue

Singing With The Big Boys...& Sometimes They Happen To Be Women!

About Me

Blues Queen Barbara Morrison made Mary Bogue one of her Blues Mamas, and Les McCann says,“When Mary Bogue opens her mouth, ain’t no one else like her. Her voice is beautiful.” Linda Hopkins, the mega- talent, heard Mary sing one of her old songs, and told folks, “She sang that better than I did! You were bluesy and wonderful, and you sang it nice and slow.” “CabaretScenes Magazine” reviewer Elliot Zwiebach said, “Mary Bogue is hot…a kind of throw back to the red-hot mamas of another era who could belt with the best of them and then pull back and score on a solid heartbreaker of a song.” He called her next performance electrifying and her- sassy and sexy. When hearing the final master, McCann called Mary and told her, “You know me. If I thought you made a good CD, I would say, you made a good CD. If I thought you made a great CD I would tell you that too. So listen to me, Baby, this CD, is a real mother------, you made a masterpiece. Yes, yes, yes!”

Mary Bogue’s first memory of music traces back to her family’s upstate New York home, sitting on the floor over the record player with her favorite 78 LP, “The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane.” Later, while her new California neighbor kids listened to surf music, Bogue’s next milestone was courtesy of Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five.” Then Cozy Cole on “Topsy Part Two” which took her on a journey of no return. As a pre-teen, for Mary it was all about this stuff called jazz, R&B and Motown. And while Paul McCartney was okay in her books, he didn’t compare to Smokey Robinson. But how did she start making music? Mary will tell you she began singing around the L.A. scene near 2006 or 2007. There were Bogue’s saucy shows, “Mary Bogue & Her King-Sized Papas” at Nola’s and the Hollywood Studio Bar & Grill, another called “Boudoirs, Bordellos & The Blues”, and even a holiday show at Vitello’s in Study City. She’s no stranger to film, TV work or art exhibits either. But all of this was way after she married a way cool guy who came and went – making 20 years look like a shooting star. When the dust settled on their once- shared dreams, she clawed her way back from grief and found joy again, this time with her voice telling the story. “Hell, I didn’t just sing ‘Heartbreak Hotel,’ I was a resident,” says Bogue. Fast forward to 2012 and her debut CD, “Don’t Go To Strangers,” which delivers her unrequited passion, with killer arrangements played by L.A. pianists Karen Hernandez and Steve Rawlins. Trumpets beckon at the call of Nolan Shaheed, Rickey Woodard makes for a cool groove; and viola and cello voices assure you it’s okay to stay a little longer in your reflection of yesterday, before producer Steve Rawlins moves you on down the road.

When asked how she selected what to sing, Mary says, “I wanted to evoke nights gone-by on the title track, to closing time at a NY bar with “Blue Champagne” I wanted to make music that you play during freeway time and somehow end up way down the road, inspires you on date night, and consoles you when you just need to hear the blues because life ain’t always so easy.”

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you’ll discover old-time friend Les McCann - who was not only the Creative Consultant on this album, but joined Bogue on “Hot, Strong and Black.” And when all is said and done, maybe you will “Save Your Love For Me,” says Mary.

My Jazz Story

Sometimes I feel like the luckiest woman ever, having admired the great icons of jazz and never dreaming that I would share the stage with them, or that they would play on MY CD. I remember looking out from the stage at Vitello's and seeing Les McCann in MY audience, and wondering if you told me when I first met him in 1980 that one day he would be on my CD, what I would have said or thought. Never give up your dreams. In fact, share them so they manifest that much quicker, and by all means, love big.