Verena McBee

Verena McBee, vocalist, lyricist, composer, producer & actress was born and raised in Northern Germany has many credits to her name.
In 1993 she studied classical music (piano, flute, voice) and German language and literature at "University Osnabrueck” in Germany and acting in Hamburg/Germany at "Schule fuer Schauspiel” (School for Acting, Hamburg).
Between 2000-2006 Verena appeared as actress and vocalist in Europe.
In 2004 she moved to NYC in 2007 and married GRAMMY award winning jazz bassist, composer and educator Cecil McBee, studying Jazz vocals with Brianna Thomas, Roberta Gambarini & Nicole Zuraitis

"Her voice, like a warm breeze on a summer's evening caresses each note with precision and emotion.Verena's control over dynamics is nothing short of mesmerizing, effortlessly gliding between hushed whispers and soulful crescendos." - Andre Avanassian, Song Review for "Close to you Alone"
Since 2009 she appeared on the NYC jazz scene, has appeared with David Kikoski, Mark Soskin, John Colianni, John Di Martino , Cecil McBee, George Cables and Victor Lewis at the Metropolitan Room, The KITANO, ZINC BAR, Cornelia Street Cafe, The Cabaret Room at PANGEA and more.
Verena produced 2 jazz albums - "Can't help it !" with her originals and arranged versions of jazz standards in 2013 recorded with her trio, and "U-PHORIA" in November of 2018 with all compositions by jazz bassist Cecil McBee with her added lyrics, recorded in NYC with her sextet.
As an actress she appeared all over Europe: In Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Vienna, Brussels, Munich, Prisdina and since 2006 also in New York City.
She portrayed ‘Ala’ in S. Mrozek’s “TANGO”, ‘Graziella’ in
Leon Feuchtwanger’s “JUD SUESS”, was part of the Baccae chorus in Euripides’s THE BACCAE and portrayed just recently ‘Catherine DuBois’ in “PATHWAY TO THE BALLOT BOX” by PJ Griffith and ‘Sophia DeBoer’ in the new musical “HEARTS OF THE HOLLOW” by Patricia White with music by Joe Benjamin.