Judith Anne Henske (December 20, 1936 – April 27, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter, dubbed "the Queen of the Beatniks" by producer Jack Nitzsche.

Her 1963 recording of "High Flying Bird" was influential on folk-rock,[2] and her 1969 album Farewell Aldebaran, with husband Jerry Yester, was an eclectic "fusion of folk music, psychedelia, and arty pop".

[6] A guest shot on ABC-TV's Hootenanny gave her young career a boost, after which she began singing in coffee houses in Pacific Beach, San Diego, and Los Angeles, where she worked with, among others, Lenny Bruce.

She then moved on to Oklahoma City, before joining ex-Kingston Trio member Dave Guard and the Whiskeyhill Singers in 1961 in Menlo Park, California, recording an album.

[9] The first of these, a recording of a nightclub performance, highlighted the offbeat humor in her live performances with musical arrangements by Onzy Matthews; the second featured Billy Edd Wheeler's song "High Flying Bird",[9] a minor hit in 1963 that was later covered by many bands of the era, including Jefferson Airplane and Zephyr (band).

[9] Henske married musician Jerry Yester in 1963, and continued to work, appearing in Anita Loos' musical "Gogo Loves You" in Greenwich Village in 1964 at the Theatre de Lys, in which her performance was praised as "utterly delightful,"[12] as well as singing at many New York and East Coast clubs.

"[17] After a longer period of retirement from public appearances, she returned to performing in Los Angeles clubs in the 1990s, as well as writing articles for the San Diego Reader and other journals.