Obituary: Rebecca Devereux Dorsey, chanteuse with deep Island roots

Long Island chanteuse Rebecca Devereux Dorsey died Friday, September 14 at her Sea Cliff home after battling ovarian cancer.

Rebecca traced her family’s Shelter Island ancestry and historic homestead to before the Revolutionary War. She was the great-granddaughter of Ralph Griffing Duvall, who was born at the homestead on Gardiners Creek in 1861. He published “The History Of Shelter Island” in 1932.

Born in Baltimore, Rebecca graduated from Sarah Lawrence College. After study at the Sorbonne in Paris, she moved to New York to pursue a stage career. She modeled and appeared in movies, soap operas and cabaret. Her gift for singing ballads and standards in multiple languages was her performance signature.

Rebecca was the featured vocalist at a wide array of Long Island music festivals, political galas and private parties. North Shore fans enjoyed her long-standing Friday night engagement at the Glen Cove Mansion, where she sang as recently as this past June.

To be with her family during the summers at their Shelter Island homestead, Rebecca regularly headlined at East End locations. Listening to her annual July Fourth and Labor Day performances at the Ram’s Head Inn became a summer tradition for Islanders.

Rebecca released her CD, “Waiting for You,” last Easter. A musical tribute to her on the Sea Cliff Village Beach is being organized.

She is survived by her husband Paul Shavelson and daughter Aria and son Mercer. She also leaves behind her parents, Glorian Devereux Dorsey of Baltimore, Maryland and Shelter Island and Dr. James Henderson Dorsey of Baltimore and St. Augustine, Florida; her brother James H. Dorsey of Jupiter, Florida; and a sister, Deborah Blue of Seattle, Washington.

Her family is asking that donations be made to Hospice Care Network, 99 Sunnyside Blvd., Woodbury, NY 11797 in Rebecca Dorsey’s memory.