American singer and songwriter Judy Henske, who played an instrumental role in the revival of folk music in the 1960s, passed away in hospice care in Los Angeles due to a long illness, according to her husband Craig Doerge. She was 85. Born Judith Anne Henske in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in 1936, the news of Henske's demise has left many in the music industry, including fans in a state of sorrow, who have been expressing their condolences and paying their tributes on social media by reminiscing the memorable songs she had sung during the course of her career.
Dubbed as 'The Queen of the Beatniks' by producer Jack Nitzsche, Henske is said to have been a major influence and inspiration for Diane Keaton's character in Annie Hall directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Woody Allen in 1977. She was also an influential name in the blues and jazz music genres and began her career in music in the late 1950s after moving to San Diego. Henske started singing in coffee shops across Southern California and Los Angeles and joined The Whiskeyhill Singers in the early 1960s. The six-foot-plus-tall singer released the psychedelic blues single 'High Flying Bird', which she followed up with an album of the same name in 1964, before collaborating with her then-husband, producer Jerry Yester. American rock band Jefferson Airplane later made a cover of the song, which would later also serve as an inspiration for Oasis' Noel Gallagher project, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.
In 1969, Judy Henske and Yester made the Farewell Aldebaran album on Frank Zappa’s record label and later formed a band called Rosebud and also came out with an album in 1971 before they went their separate ways. Henske later tied the knot with fellow Rosebud band member and musician Craig Doerge in 1973. She went on a hiatus and returned only in 1999 to release another album titled 'Loose in the World', which she followed up with 'She Sang California' in 2004. Henske is survived by husband Doerge and her daughter Kate DeLaPointe.
