Connie Ducey began singing and harmonizing with her parents’ vocalizations at around age 3. The family’s preferred method of passing time while traveling or spending quality time together was to sing, usually with dad on ukulele or guitar and harmonica. Music was imbedded in the extended family, too. Especially notable was her uncle Karl Taylor, a musician and big band leader in the Midwest in the 1940s, who helped launch careers for The McGuire Sisters and The Mills Brothers. The first “official” public vocal performance for Connie was around age 9, singing alto in a young female trio for a church social gathering – the tune was “Me and My Shadow”, a song still in the repertoire!

Connie studied piano and theory as an adolescent/teen (with some refresher instruction now and then as an adult.) She started voice lessons as a young teenager, recording and rehearsing under the tutelage of gifted musician, long time music mentor and friend, Lowell Woodrey, performing tunes by Burt Bacharach, Henry Mancini, Brasil ’66, and other great music of the sixties.

After a performance break to marry and provide good beginnings to two beautiful children, Connie helped form a fantastic original music R&R band, “Twisted Kicks” in the eighties, singing lead vocal with them for over five years. She next moved into blues with “Wailing Sam and the Screaming Nighthawks”, led by talented bluesman and harmonica player Sam Watson. During this time, she met and worked with many other fine musicians, such as David Garthwaite and Eddie Neon, as bandmates in “…Nighthawks” and in other collaborative efforts. After some years of blues, the call to Jazz Standards, pop and R&B trumped and she began working with the fantastic musicians in “Safe Harbor.” That long-time, active collaboration was the basis for forming a new jazz quartet, “Five Down” in the early nineties. Dear friend, talented pianist and Klezmer accordion player, Ray Osheroff, left us all too soon after this group formed, but the rest of the group kept the music going and began working with gifted pianist Mike Klein. Soon “Namely Us” was formed.

For the past 12 years Connie has been performing regularly in Northern California at clubs, parties and events with Jazz Quintet “Namely Us.” This great group of musicians and friends - Mike Klein, Kurt Huget, Levi Hooks and Brian Jones - play jazz standards, many fantastic originals (some having lyrics by Connie), pop, R&B, rock and even some country. “Namely Us” currently performs monthly at both The Sleeping Lady in Fairfax and The Two Bird Café in San Geronimo.

Other recent performance credits also include:
• 3 years of piano/vocal duo work in San Francisco at The Flytrap Restaurant, with pianists Mike Klein, Richard Riccardi, Tom Shaw, David Udolf and Charlie Hickox.
• A fantastic trio with pianist Richard Riccardi and bassist Mario Suraci performing at the
Hotel Griffon in San Francisco for several of their corporate functions.
• A featured vocalist with Judy Hall’s jazz trio at The Seafood Peddler in San Rafael and other venues.
• Northern and Southern California duo performances with great jazz touch (Warr) guitar player/musician, Randy Strom.
• Vocalist with The Klein Trio in many fine Bay Area venues. An extra special collaboration with this fine jazz trio is at The Rombauer Vineyard’s annual “Joy of Wine” event in St. Helena.