PEGGY FARRELL - BMHOF CLASS OF 2023

An iconic Buffalo jazz vocalist, she raised a family as a single mother, before coming back to music as the partner of Hall of Fame Inducted Member, pianist Al Tinney. 

A lifelong singer and jazz lover from a large and musical Buffalo family, Margaret “Peggy” Farrell began singing as a young girl. Her brother sang in a barbershop quartet, and her mother and sisters sang as well. As a young girl, she worked as an elevator operator at the Statler Hotel and sang as she worked, catching the attention of another Buffalo jazz icon, Anne Fadale, who worked in the hotel. Fadale encouraged Farrell to audition in a local talent competition, which she won. Peggy used the $5 prize money to buy a black taffeta dress, which she wore to her first gig.

In the mid-1950s, she left Buffalo as a single mother, living and performing in New York City, Cleveland, San Francisco and elsewhere over 15 years, before taking a two-decade hiatus to support herself and her children as a nurse at Millard Fillmore Hospital. During her early performing years, she sound herself in the company of famous Beat Era figures such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Bob Dylan. 

After meeting the talented jazz pianist Al Tinney at the Cloister in 1983, she spent 18 years with him personally and professionally, including working a five-year residency at Fanny’s Supper Club in Amherst. 

In 2000, the duo recorded the compact disc Peg & Al, featuring a full platter of standards including several vocal duets between Farrell and Tinney, accompanied by drummer Lou Marino and fellow 2023 Inducted Member Sabu Adeyola on upright bass. Tracks included “Cheek to Cheek,” and “You Make Me Feel So Young.” 


Farrell has continued to perform for crowds well into her 90s. She has also given back to the Buffalo jazz community, mentoring and encouraging a younger generation of performers by inviting them to sit in at her shows and helping them get their own gigs. Farrell has also been a singer in the St. Louis Church choir, which was directed by Hall of Fame Inducted Member Frank Scinta.