Ruth Olay (July 1, 1924 – September 3, 2021) was an American jazz singer who was born in San Francisco, the daughter of a Rabbi and a professional chorister mother.
At age 16 or 17, working as secretary at Twentieth Century Fox, Ruth undertook singing lessons with vocal coach Florence Russell (Dorothy Dandridge).
[2] She performed under the moniker Rachel Davis and, due to her dark complexion, passing as a black woman, with Carter in San Diego, and later with Jerry Fielding in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills clubs, all the while holding down a secretarial day job at Twentieth Century Fox, including work for celebrated screenwriter Preston Sturges.
For the second LP Easy Living on Mercury in 1959, Olay was set up with Jerry Fielding whose credits included arranging with big bands such as those of Kay Kyser, Claude Thornhill, Jimmie Lunceford, Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, and Les Brown.
[5] After spending some time performing in Europe where the popularity of American jazz persisted[6] Olay returned to the US and gradually phased into retirement and withdrew from singing altogether.