Editing Sarah Vaughan (section)

===1970–1982: Fisher and Mainstream===
[[File:Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughan Perform at the White House.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Dizzy Gillespie]] and Vaughan perform at the [[White House]] in honor of the [[Mohammad Reza Shah|Shah of Iran]] on November 15, 1977.]]

In 1971, at the Tropicana in Las Vegas, Marshall Fisher was a concession stand employee and fan when he was introduced to Sarah Vaughan. They were attracted to each other immediately. Fisher moved in with her in Los Angeles. Although he was white and seven years older, he got along with her friends and family. Although he had no experience in the music business, he became her road manager, then personal manager. But unlike other men and managers, Fisher was devoted to her and meticulously managed her career and treated her well. He wrote love poems to her.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|277}}

In 1971, [[Bob Shad]], who had worked with her as a producer at Mercury, asked her to record for his label, [[Mainstream Records|Mainstream]], which he had founded after leaving Mercury. Breaking a four-year hiatus, Vaughan signed a contract with Mainstream and returned to the studio for ''[[A Time in My Life]]'', a step away from jazz into pop music with songs by [[Bob Dylan]], [[John Lennon]], and [[Marvin Gaye]] arranged by [[Ernie Wilkins]]. She didn't complain about this eclectic change in direction, but she chose the material for her next album after admiring the work of [[Michel Legrand]]. He conducted an orchestra of over one hundred musicians for ''[[Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand]]'', an album of compositions by Legrand with lyrics by [[Alan and Marilyn Bergman]]. The songs brought some of the musicians to tears during the sessions. But Shad wanted a hit, and the album yielded none.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|278–280}} She sang a version of the pop hit "[[Rainy Days and Mondays]]" by the Carpenters for ''[[Feelin' Good (Sarah Vaughan album)|Feelin' Good]]''.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|283}} This was followed by ''[[Live in Japan (Sarah Vaughan album)|Live in Japan]]'', her first live album since 1963.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|293}} ''Sarah Vaughan and the Jimmy Rowles Quintet'' (1974) was more experimental, containing free improvisation and some unconventional scatting.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|294}}

''Send in the Clowns'' was another attempt to increase sales by breaking into the pop music market. Vaughan disliked the songs and hated the album cover depicting a clown with an afro. She filed a lawsuit against Shad in 1975 on the belief that the cover was inconsistent with the formal, sophisticated image she projected on stage. She also contended that the album ''Sarah Vaughan: Live at the Holiday Inn Lesotho'' had an incorrect title and that Shad had been harming her career.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|295–296}} Although she disliked the album, she liked the song "[[Send in the Clowns]]" written by Stephen Sondheim for the musical ''A Little Night Music''. She learned it on piano, made many changes with the help of pianist Carl Schroeder, and it became her signature song.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|300–305}}
[[File:Optreden Sarah Vaughan, 1978 - 03.jpg|thumb| Vaughan in 1978]]
In 1974, she performed music by [[George Gershwin]] at the [[Hollywood Bowl]] with the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic]]. The orchestra was conducted by [[Michael Tilson Thomas]], who was a fan of Vaughan and invited her to perform.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|306–307}} Thomas and Vaughan repeated the performance with Thomas' home orchestra in Buffalo, New York, followed by appearances in 1975 and 1976 with other symphony orchestras in the United States.<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|310}}

After leaving Mainstream, she signed with [[Atlantic Records|Atlantic]] and worked on an album of songs by John Lennon and Paul McCartney that were arranged by [[Marty Paich]] and his son, [[David Paich]] of the rock band Toto. She was enthusiastic to be more involved in the making of an album, but Atlantic rejected it on the claim that it contained no hits. "I don't know how they can recognize hits in advance", she said. Atlantic canceled her contract. She said, "I don't give a damn about record companies any more."<ref name="Hayes" />{{rp|297}}