Song stylist Felice Jargow never had to struggle to find herself. From childhood, the New Paltz resident knew that her destiny was tied to the piano keyboard.
Three-year-old Felice picked out tunes on her aunt”™s piano. She took piano lessons offered by her Ellenville grade school, practicing at home on a cardboard keyboard. “Of course, I couldn”™t hear the sounds,” she concedes.
Following her graduation from Ellenville Central High School, the aspiring musician entered Hofstra University to major in history. “I wanted to enjoy music and found those in music education more consigned,” she reflects. She later transferred to the State University of New York at New Paltz, earning a bachelor of arts degree. She took private voice lessons, developing her own melodic style of soft, soothing soprano tones.Â
With a father in the restaurant/hotel business, she gravitated toward club engagements, becoming popular in cocktail lounge circles with show tunes, pop, romantic selections and golden oldies. “My mother was an accomplished singer, but she worked in the defense industry during World War II,” she says of her background.
Starting out in New York City, she shared quarters, doing part-time modeling and secretarial work while trying to make it in the music world. “At first I couldn”™t make the connections,” she confesses.
Relocating to Georgia, she acquired an agent who promised her work if she would learn 25 songs in a recommended style. An engagement at Atlanta”™s Hyatt Regency launched her career.
Mostly, she has been her own agent. Born under the Aquarian sign, she reveals that a Capricorn moon gave her a practical side rendering her capable of running her own business life.         Â
She continued to live in Georgia and Florida. Her promotional materials bear an impressive list of engagements there and in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Japan, along with cruise ship appearances.
“I zip up my mouth on cruises,” she concedes. She is not referring to the mouth that sings, but the mouth that eats. “There is such an abundance of food,” she declares. “I did calisthenics for an hour each day.”
Her love of hiking and mountain climbing contributes to the slender figure that currently sits at the piano of the Hotel Thayer at West Point for Friday night dinner and Sunday brunch. She has appeared at the Holiday Inn and the Radisson Hotel, both in Poughkeepsie; the Wiltwyck Country Club in Kingston, Millbrook Country Club, Nevele Hotel & Country Club in Ellenville.
She considers her six-month engagement in Japan the pinnacle of her career. She played at the elegant Crown Restaurant in the Palace Hotel across from the ImperialPalace, overlooking the city of Tokyo. “You could see Mount Fuji in the distance,” she recalls.
“Back then only five percent of the population spoke English,” Jargow reports.Â
“I love to make people happy,” she remarks in a melodious tone matching her singing voice. “Music is a spiritual experience. People carry memories of it.”
“A major challenge is being at your best when you don”™t feel at your best,” she reflects. “Like, when my father was dying.”
In private life she is Mrs. Richard Kren. The two met at The Egg”™s Nest in High Falls. Their son, Eric, attends New Paltz High School.
Challenging Careers focuses on the exciting and unusual business lives of Hudson Valley residents. Comments or suggestions may be e-mailed to Catherine Portman-Laux at cplaux@optonline.net.
