Laura Nyro - who is she?

Laura Nyro, born in New York 1947, is relatively unknown as a singer and her songs have had more success covered by other artists. Blood, Sweat and Tears, Peter, Paul and Mary, Barbara Streisand and The 5^th Dimension are a few examples of artist that have had hits with her songs. Ironically, Nyro herself had her biggest success with a song written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin called Up on the Roof. She never enjoyed her status as a celebrity. At the age of 24 she announced her retirement from the music business. A few years later she came back and released four more studio albums before she past away in 1997. During those years she turned down both The Tonight Show and The Late Show with David Letterman because of her discomfort with appearing on television. She only did a handful of TV appearances which might explain why she has remained relatively unknown.