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  • Jazz Singer x
  • 1941–1954: WWII and Postwar Desegregation x
  • Rhythm and Blues Musician/Singer x
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Article

Baker, LaVern  

Barry Marshall

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

singer, was born in Chicago as Delores Williams. Nothing is known about her parents. Raised by her aunt, Merline Baker, also known as the blues singer Memphis Minnie, Baker started singing almost as soon as she could walk, both in her Baptist church and in the street. She grew up in poverty and sang for change on the downtown Chicago streets from the age of three. She started singing professionally as a teenager at the Club Delisa, decked out in down-home clothes and billed as “Little Miss Sharecropper.” The “Sharecropper” sobriquet was a takeoff on the popular blues shouter “Little Miss Cornshucks,” and although it garnered her attention at the time, she was embarrassed by it later in her life. She also appeared at different venues as Bea Baker.

At the age of seventeen, Baker moved to Detroit. By 1947 she was appearing regularly at ...

Article

Bernhardt, Clyde  

Barry Kernfeld

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

jazz trombonist and singer, was born Clyde Edric Barnhardt in Gold Hill, North Carolina, the son of Washington Michael Barnhardt, a miner, and Elizabeth Mauney. When Clyde was a child, he added Barron to his name because his grandmother in slavery had been lent to a family named Barron who treated her kindly. He changed the spelling of his surname in 1930 on the advice of a psychic. Thus his full name became Clyde Edric Barron Bernhardt or Clyde E. B. Bernhardt.

In 1912, after his father suffered a heart attack and left mining, Bernhardt helped to peddle goods from a wagon. The family moved to New Hope (later absorbed into Badin), North Carolina, and in 1915 his father died. Bernhardt attended school for three months each year while holding various jobs, including work at Alcoa Aluminum in 1918 The following year his mother ...

Article

Humes, Helen  

Barry Kernfeld

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues singer, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the daughter of John Henry Humes, a railroad worker who became one of the first African American attorneys in Louisville and then worked in real estate, and Emma Johnson, a schoolteacher. “Well, I was born June 23, 1909, but I put it June 23, 1913. And everybody that's been writing books and things, they got 1913,” Humes explained to Helen Oakley Dance (12 May 1981). Her mother sang in a Baptist church choir and played piano at home. Humes sang with her mother and then took piano lessons as well. At Central High School her classmates included the jazz trombonist Dicky Wells, the drummer Bill Beason, and the trumpeter Jonah Jones At age seventeen before finishing her schooling Humes traveled to St Louis ...

Article

Jarreau, Alwyn Lopez  

Barbara Bonous-Smit

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

jazz, R&B and popular music vocalist and songwriter, was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the fifth of six children of Pearl and Emile Jarreau, a minister and welder.

Al came from a musical background His mother Pearl was a piano teacher who taught her children to play that instrument although Al was not fond of practicing The family often performed as a group the Jarreau Family during fund raising events at local churches Al loved singing as a child He would harmonize with his brothers and would perform in the local church choirs at special events and at school functions He made his solo debut at four singing Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam at a local church Coming from a background in New Orleans jazz Emile kept this style of music alive in his household The children often listened to jazz and popular music on the radio ...

Article

Jones, Etta  

Roxanne Y. Schwab

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

jazz singer, was born in Aiken, South Carolina, but moved to New York City with her family at age three. At age sixteen her rhythm-and-blues vocalizations led to a spot in a local talent competition and netted her a touring gig with pianist and bandleader Buddy Johnson. She made her recording debut that same year (1944) on the Black & White label with Albany “Barney” Bigard's pickup band, singing four Leonard Feather songs, three of which were popularized by Dinah Washington, including “Evil Gal Blues,” “Salty Papa Blues,” and “Long Long Journey.” During these early years in her career she also recorded for RCA and worked with leading boogie woogie player Pete Johnson; swing, bop, and blues drummer J. C. Heard; and bandleader and piano virtuoso Earl Hines, the latter of whom she worked with for three years.

During the 1950s ...

Article

Lutcher, Nellie  

Dorsía Smith Silva

Article

Publication History:

Published in print:
15 March 2013
Published online:
31 May 2013

singer and pianist, was born Nellie Rose Lutcher in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the third of fifteen children of Isaac Lutcher, a well-known bass player, and Suzie Garrett, a homemaker who briefly studied piano. Through her parents' influence Lutcher started playing the piano at age six and within two years had acquired enough skill to perform for the congregation at her church, New Sunlight Baptist.

To help Lutcher further develop her musical talents her father formed a family band in which Lutcher played piano. She quit school when she was fourteen to play in the family band; in one performance in 1929 she worked with Ma Rainey A year later she and her father started playing weekend performances with Clarence Hart s Imperial Band This opportunity led Lutcher to tour with the Southern Rhythm Boys of New Orleans The group toured throughout Louisiana and Texas before they ...