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With all that Ethel Waters has contributed to music and film, it is surprising that she is often forgotten. She was a talented blues singer whose unique style distinguished her from other blues singers and she was a jazz vocalist as well. Her talent extended beyond singing, when she became a dramatic actress who earned award nominations for her performances. What was most remarkable about Waters' performances was how she reconstructed the mammy character into one that challenged stereotypes. Career as a Singer Ethel Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania on October 31, 1896. She had a hard life in which she faced rejection from her mother and poverty. Waters' love of singing began as a child when she sang in church choirs but her childhood was cut short when at thirteen she married an abusive man, dropped out of sixth grade, and was divorced a year later. Shortly thereafter, she began working as a maid until two vaudeville producers discovered her while she was singing in a talent contest in 1917. She toured with vaudeville shows, and was billed as "Sweet Mama Stringbean" because of her height and thinness. In 1919, she left the vaudeville circuit and performed in Harlem nightclubs. Two years later she became one of the first black singers to cut a record on the Black Swan Record label with her release of "Down Home Blues" and "Oh, Daddy". The record was a success and Waters went on tour and received great acclaim. She toured with Fletcher Henderson and the Black Swan Jazz Masters. The Chicago Defender and other newspapers gave the tour substantial notoriety. The tour increased Black Swan's revenues, and made Waters a top performer who became known for her shimmies and soft style of singing. Waters' success was related to her style of singing. She could sing like other classic blues singers with plenty of passion and fire, but she had a unique approach. She was not a shouter but was able to hold the attention of the audience with her low and sweet voice. According to Jimmy McPartland, who saw her in the 1927 show Miss Calico, "We were enthralled with her. We liked Bessie Smith very much, too, but Waters had more polish, I guess you'd say. She phrased so wonderfully, the natural quality of her voice was so fine . . ." Waters introduced a new style of the blues, one that was influenced by her grandmother who always told her "You don't have to holler so.
Ethel Waters overcame a very tough childhood to become one of the most well known African American entertainers of her time. Her story, The Eye on the Sparrow, goes into great detail about her life and how she evolved from taking care of addicts to becoming the star of her own show. Ethel was born by her mother being raped at a young age. Her father, John Waters, was a pianist who played no role in Ethel’s life. She was raised in poverty and it was rare for her to live in the same place for over a year. Ethel never fit in with the rest of the crowd; she was a big girl, about five nine when she was a teenager, and was exposed to mature things early in her life. This is what helped shape Ethel to be the strong, independent woman she is.
Ella was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917. When alled “The First Lady of Song” by some fans. She was known for having beautiful tone, extended range, and great intonation, and famous for her improvisational scat singing. Ella sang during the her most famous song was “A-tiscket A-tasket”. Fitzgerald sang in the period of swing, ballads, and bebop; she made some great albums with other great jazz artists such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Louis Armstrong. She influenced countless American popular singers of the post-swing period and also international performers such as the singer Miriam Makeba. She didn’t really write any of her own songs. Instead she sang songs by other people in a new and great way. The main exception
Coretta Scott King was born on April 27, 1927 in Heiberger, Alabama. Heiberger was a small segregated town. Coretta’s parents were Obadiah and Bernice Scott. She has an older sister named Edythe and a younger brother, Obie. Coretta was named after her grandmother Cora Scott. Her family was hard working and devoted Christians. Coretta had a strong temper, feared no one and stood up for herself.
Janis Joplin distinguishes from the others greatly because of her untraditional singing and performing style. Just like many other singers, Janis Joplin began her career by performing in bars and clubs (Jialan). The unsupportive environment and hardship of life once almost made her lose faith in her singing career, but the strong appeal of blues music never allowed her to give up. She was most inspired by Bessie Smith and Odetta, and gradually discovered a singing method that complimented her voice the most (“Life: biography”).
McKinley Morganfield or better known as Muddy Waters, was a blues musician who is often called the “father of modern Chicago blues”. Waters’ influence on blues was tremendous, as well as on R&B, rock and roll, hard rock, folk music, jazz and country music. Growing up in Issaquena County, Mississippi, Waters grew up immersed in the Delta blues, and in 1943, he moved to Chicago and began playing in clubs. A record deal followed, and his major hits like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Rollin' Stone" made him an iconic Chicago blues man. (Deming, Mark. “Muddy Waters | Biography & History.”) He was given the nickname "Muddy Waters" because he liked to play in the swampy puddles of the Mississippi
Loretta Young, a breathtakingly lovely statuesque blond, always took pride in being remembered for her role as Berengaria. One asks, “Why should plain petite brunette Berengaria not have the privilege of being remembered as being like Loretta Young?”
Ethel Smyth, composer and outspoken suffragist, was born in 1858. Her middle-class English family opposed her ambition to study music in Germany, thinking the goal of becoming a professional musician unladylike. Smyth’s father eventually allowed her to study composition in Leipzig, but only after she waged a campaign of protest that included a hunger strike and self-imposed isolation. Among her seventy-two compositions are six operas, and works for orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensembles. Afflicted with deafness later in life, a malady that afflicted both Beethoven and Smetana, she died in 1944.
25, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an African American woman, who from a young age had
Janis Joplin has been called “the greatest white urban blues and soul singer of her generation.” (Janis Joplin Biography.) Joplin was born January 19, 1943 in Port Arthur, Texas. (Janis Lyn Joplin.) Early in her career she did not have luck as a solo artist; it was not until she joined Big Brother and the Holding Company in San Francisco that she had any hits. Big
Most of us know Miss Diana Ross, an African American performer. Her acting and singing career is what lead her to fame. She goes by the nickname of Miss Ross. Here is something you may not know, her birth name is Diane Ernestine Earle Ross. However her birth certificate says Diana. She was born and raised here in Detroit, Michigan. Where most babies in Detroit are delivered so was she, Hutzel Women’s Hospital. On March 26, 1944 a star entered the city with much more potential than anyone would have ever expected. She lived near the North End area of Detroit (woodward) and later moved to the Brewster projects. Miss Diana Ross attended a high school all Detroit citizens are familiar with, Cass Technical HS. She discovered her talent at a very young age as she began to sing in the choir at church. It was shortly after this when her career started to grow.
Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman was born on January 26, 1892 to Susan and George Coleman who had a large family in Texas. At the time of Bessie’s birth, her parents had already been married for seventeen years and already had nine children, Bessie was the tenth, and she would later have twelve brothers and sisters. Even when she was small, Bessie had to deal with issues about race. Her father was of African American and Cherokee Indian decent, and her mother was black which made it difficult from the start for her to be accepted. Her parents were sharecroppers and her life was filled with renter farms and continuous labor. Then, when Bessie was two, her father decided to move himself and his family to Waxahacie, Texas. He thought that it would offer more opportunities for work, if he were to live in a cotton town.
Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday were both prominent jazz singer-songwriters during the same time and masters in their own right, but their worlds could not have been further apart. In 1939, while they were both in the midst of experiencing mainstream success, Ella was touring with Ella and her Famous Orchestra and showcasing her perfect pitch and tone to the world while singing songs that would soon become standards to fellow singers and musicians. Billie was singing solo, comfortable with her limited range, and gaining the adoration of audiences nationwide who loved her soulful voice. Both of these historic singers made contributions to the art of jazz, with vocalists and instrumentalists still using elements of their style today. Ella
The movie Lady Day: The Many Faces Of Billie Holiday paints an interesting, and thought provoking portrait of one of jazz and blues most charismatic, and influential artists. The incomparable talent of Billie Holiday, both truth and legend are immortalized in this one-hour documentary film. The film follows Holiday, also referred to as “Lady Day” or “Lady”, through the many triumphs and trials of her career, and does it’s very best to separate the facts from fiction. Her autobiography Lady Sings The Blues is used as a rough guide of how she desired her life story to be viewed by her public. Those who knew her, worked with her, and loved her paint a different picture than this popular, and mostly fictional autobiography.
Known as the “Empress Of Blues”, Bessie Smith was said to have revolutionized the vocal end of Blues Music. She showed a lot of pride as an independent African-American woman. Her style in performance and lyrics often reflected her lifestyle. Bessie Smith was one of the first female jazz artists, and she paved the way for many musicians who followed.
In the history of women’s rights, and their leaders, few can compare with the determination and success of Lucy Stone. While many remember Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony for being the most active fighters for women’s rights, perhaps Stone is even more important. The major goal for women in this time period was gaining women’s suffrage. That is what many remember or associate with the convention at Seneca Falls.