Sunny Ozell: The Classically Trained Singer Behind the Title Lady Stewart
Violin at four, an opera coach at thirteen, Boulder blues bands and New York club stages: the working musician behind a name most people learned from an obituary.
When Sir Patrick Stewart died on October 28, 2026, the coverage tended to give Sunny Ozell a single line: his widow, the American singer he married in 2013. The line is accurate, and it leaves out nearly everything about her. Wikipedia describes her first as a singer and songwriter, born December 23, 1978, now living in Los Angeles.
Ozell started violin at four and had an opera coach by thirteen. She then built a reputation in New York clubs with a mix of jazz, blues and American roots music. She has two albums, Take It with Me (2015) and Overnight Lows (2020), and the players on the first have credits with the Black Crowes, Mariah Carey and Madonna.
Her formal style, Lady Stewart, came from the marriage. Her working life, on small New York stages such as Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room, has a history of its own.
Key takeaways
- Her parents did not play music themselves, but they started her on violin at four. Vocal training followed at 11 and opera coaching from 13, all in Reno, Nevada.
- She calls Take It with Me her debut album, even though it is mostly covers of Howard Jones, Hank Williams, Randy Newman, T Bone Burnett and Tom Waits.
- Her band is made of seasoned players whose other credits include the Black Crowes, George Duke, Ryan Adams and Madonna.
- She met Stewart in 2008 while waitressing at Franny's in New York. They married beside Lake Tahoe on September 7, 2013, with Sir Ian McKellen officiating.
A classical start in Reno, Nevada
Ozell grew up in Reno in a household where music mattered even though nobody in it performed. Her parents did not play themselves. They took music education seriously enough to put a violin in her hands at the age of four. Vocal training followed at 11, and around then she decided that music was the career she wanted. From 13 she worked with an opera coach.
That is an unusual route into the clubs where she later made her name. The discipline came first: an instrument, then formal vocal training, then opera coaching, all before she was old enough to drive. The blues, soul and country material she now sings came afterwards. The order shows in her career. She was a trained voice who went looking for looser forms, rather than a bar singer who later learned technique.
Boulder bar bands, then New York clubs
At university in Boulder, Colorado, Ozell majored in English literature, not music. The singing went on alongside the degree: all through college she sang in blues bands and soul-funk bands in her spare time. That was where the classical training met rhythm sections, amplifiers and audiences who came for a night out.
After graduating she began performing in clubs around New York and became part of the city's music community. Her sets mixed original songs with interpretations of other blues, soul and country songwriters. She plays most often at two rooms, Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room. She was photographed on stage at Rockwood in 2015, the year her first album came out.
Club work also brought collaborators. She has performed with guitarist Jim Campilongo and with Adam Levy, both members of Norah Jones's backing band, and with singer Krystle Warren. These are working musicians' connections, made on small stages rather than through a label.
Take It with Me and the band behind it
Ozell considers Take It with Me her debut album. Most of it is covers: songs by Howard Jones, Hank Williams, Randy Newman, T Bone Burnett and Tom Waits. The list crosses decades and genres, and it works more as a statement of taste than as an introduction to her own writing. The single Git Gone came out the same year. Overnight Lows followed in 2020, five years later.
The band is unusual for a singer at her level. Aaron Lee Tasjan (Semi Precious Weapons, Drivin N Cryin) plays guitar. Andy Hess (the Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, Uberjam) plays bass, and Andrew Sherman (George Duke, Mariah Carey) plays keys. Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals) is on pedal steel, Nicki Richards (Madonna) sings backing vocals and Ethan Eubanks (Teddy Thompson, Crash Test Dummies, Joseph Arthur) plays drums. The same players back her on stage, not only on the record.
What she takes from her influences
Ozell names Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as influences, and she is specific about the reason. What she values in the duo is their
simplicity and their total lack of pretension
It is a telling choice for someone with an opera coach in her past. The quality she singles out is restraint, not range.
She also points to the American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, and in particular to Wilson's 1993 album Blue Light 'til Dawn. She draws on soul music too, without limiting the word to its textbook definition of Motown or Stax Records. Taken together, the list fits what she does on stage: jazz phrasing, blues and roots material, a loose idea of soul, and original songs set beside other writers' work.
Franny's, Lake Tahoe and the title Lady Stewart
Ozell and Stewart met in 2008 at Franny's, a restaurant in New York where she was working as a waitress. Stewart was then playing Macbeth at the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music. Their engagement was reported in March 2013, and they married on September 7, 2013, beside Lake Tahoe, in the state where she grew up. Sir Ian McKellen officiated.
Through the marriage she gained two stepchildren. Stewart died on October 28, 2026, thirteen years after the wedding. Wikipedia now gives her name as Sunny Ozell, Lady Stewart, and lists her home as Los Angeles. For most of the people who search her name this year, that is where they first meet her.
Meeting at Franny's
Ozell was waitressing at Franny's while Stewart played Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Engagement reported
Reports confirmed that Ozell and Stewart were engaged.
Wedding at Lake Tahoe
They married beside the lake in Nevada, with Sir Ian McKellen officiating.
Take It with Me
The album she counts as her debut, plus the single Git Gone.
Overnight Lows
Her second album, five years after the first.
Stewart dies
Ozell is widowed after thirteen years of marriage.
What to watch next
Her recorded output is small: two albums five years apart, one single, and a live career centred on two New York rooms. With a quiet catalogue and a sudden rise in attention, the question worth watching is what she does next as an artist. The answer will come from her own channels, not from the obituary coverage that currently surrounds her name.
There is also a gap between how she is described and what most listeners have heard. Coverage leads with the marriage, while her own account of her career leads with the covers record and its band. Anyone writing about her music should go to the recordings themselves. Before repeating any track-by-track claim about Overnight Lows, including which songs she wrote, check the album's own credits.
Who is Sunny Ozell?
An American singer and songwriter, born December 23, 1978. She grew up in Reno, Nevada, made her name in New York clubs and now lives in Los Angeles. She was married to Sir Patrick Stewart from 2013 until his death in 2026.
What albums has Sunny Ozell released?
Take It with Me (2015), which she considers her debut, and Overnight Lows (2020). She also released the single Git Gone in 2015.
How did Sunny Ozell meet Patrick Stewart?
In 2008 at Franny's restaurant in New York, where she was a waitress. Stewart was performing Macbeth at the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Who officiated Sunny Ozell's wedding?
Sir Ian McKellen, at the ceremony beside Lake Tahoe in Nevada on September 7, 2013.
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