Barbara Turner, 84, jazz singer
She wowed the tough crowd at Spider Kellys in its heyday before abandoning the jazz scene.
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IF YOU COULD make it at Spider Kelly's, you had already made it in the Philly jazz scene.
After all, John Coltrane played there, as well as organist Jimmy Smith and numerous other local luminaries at a time ('50s and '60s) when Philadelphia was the place to be for the best in jazz.
It was a tough crowd. A piano player kept a bottle of wine and a pistol under his piano. The denizens expected only the best in their kind of music, and they got it.
The likes of Louis Jordan and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, playing at the nearby Earle Theatre, came by to scoop up talent for their bands.
That was where Barbara Turner wowed the audiences as a headliner with her jazz vocals in the early '50s.
Barbara came out of Simon Gratz High School with aspirations of making a career as a jazz singer. After her gig at Spider's, she toured for a bit, but abandoned her singing when her then-husband, Clifton Turner, was drafted. She followed him to his various assignments and her singing career was over. They later divorced.
Barbara Lucille Jones Turner, a customer-service representative for 27 years for Philadelphia Gas Works, died Tuesday. She had celebrated her 84th birthday with family on Sunday. She lived in the Kearsley Retirement Community.
She had moved to Kearsely from Spring Garden 13 years ago. She was a popular resident. She never forgot a birthday, always sent cards for special occasions, and welcomed new arrivals.
"Residents enjoyed her door decorations that highlighted current sporting and political events," her family said.
She was a big fan of President Obama and the Eagles' Michael Vick.
After her retirement in 1989, she volunteered for United Way, and, with her niece, Janet Hammond Ryder, manned the phone bank for the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers.
Barbara was born the eldest of the five children of Frederick and Helen Jones, who came to Philadelphia from Odessa, Del. They lived in North Philadelphia.
She was a member of Jones Tabernacle African Methodist Episcopal Church.
She is survived by a brother, Peter Wilson Jones Sr.; a half-sister, Emma Saunders Harvey; and three half-brothers, William, Clarence and Louis Saunders.
Services: 1 p.m. Saturday at the chapel at Kearsley, 2100 N. 49th St.