ALBERTA HUNTER
Genres: Blues, Jazz Related Soundtracks • United States

At age twelve Alberta Hunter ran away from her hometown of Memphis to go to Chicago to become a Blues singer. She had a somewhat hard time at first but gradually, achieved her goal and became one of the most popular African-American entertainers of the 1920s. She got her professional start in 1911 at a Southside club called Dago Frank's, a tough bordello frequented by pimps and criminals. She stayed there until 1913, when the place was closed after a murder in the club. She then moved on to a small night club and managed to save enough money to bring her mother north to Chicago and support her for the rest of her life. Alberta was married briefly, but never consummated the union, using the excuse that she didn't want to have sex in the same house where her mother lived, but the real story was that Hunter was read more...