Dakota Staton was a high respected jazz and blues singer known during the 1950s for her bright trumpetlike sound and sassy style.

Staton was born in Pittsburgh on June 3, 1930, and began singing and dancing as a child. By the time she was 18, she was singing in nightclubs in Detroit and other Midwestern cities; she later settled in New York. In 1955, Down Beat magazine voted her the most promising newcomer of the year.

Stanton made her debute with her first full-length album, “The Late, Late Show,” in 1957 which was released by Capiol Records. The album was a huge success. Other well known songs of Stantons included “Broadway,” and “My Funny Valentine.”

Ms. Staton, who recorded more than two dozen albums, was widely praised by critics and worked with many distinguished musicians, among them the pianist George Shearing and the arrangers Nelson Riddle and Sid Feller. But she never attained the fame of singers like Dinah Washington, whom she cited as a deep influence. Stanton worked well into her 60s and was often called “one of the greateast vocal sytlists of all time.”