1000+ images about Dinah on Pinterest | Newport jazz festival, Washington and Carmen Dell'Orefice Mid March of 1960 you would have been hearing the radio playing 'Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)' sung by the amazing Dinah Washington & Brook Benton.

See More 1000+ images about DINAH WASHINGTON on Pinterest | Washington, William claxton and Jazz Forward Dinah Washington AKA Ruth Lee Jones Born: 29-Aug-1924 Birthplace: Tuscaloosa, AL Died: 14-Dec-1963 Location of death: Detroit, MI Cause of death: Accident - Overdose Remains: Buried, Burr Oak Cemetery, Alsip, IL Gender: Female Race or Ethnicity: Black Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Singer Nationality: United States Executive summary: Queen of the Blues See More RoundMidnightTV - YouTube RoundMidnightTV The next video is starting stop Natalie Cole - Here's That Rainy Day (DMI/Atco Records 2008) 11,210 views 2 years ago "Here's That Rainy Day" is a popular song with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Johnny Burke, published in 1953. It was introduced by Dolores Gray in the Broadway musical Carnival in Flanders.

The song has been recorded by many jazz and pop singers, including Tony Bennett, Dee Dee Bridgewater, The Stan Kenton Orchestra, June Christy, Rosemary Clooney, Perry Como, Vic Damone, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Lou Rawls, Astrud Gilberto (with Stan Getz), Lena Horne, Phyllis Hyman, Jack Jones, Steve Lawrence, Peggy Lee, Kenny Rankin, Frank Sinatra, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mel Torme, Sarah Vaughan and Andy Williams. It is also a favorite of jazz instrumentalists, with renditions by Joe Pass, Gene Ammons, Chet Baker, Ray Brown, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, Bill Evans, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Art Pepper, Oscar Peterson, Toots Thielemans, Alvin "Red" Tyler, L.A. Jazz Quintet and McCoy Tyner, among many others. also, Nancy Wilson. Frank Sinatra recorded it on March 25, 1959 for the Capitol album No One Cares, arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins.

He performed it on a Timex-sponsored show entitled The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: An Afternoon With Frank Sinatra, broadcast on December 13, 1959 and on the Emmy-nominated Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing, broadcast on November 25, 1968. On November 18, 1973, he performed it on Ol' Blue Eyes Is Back, in a medley with "Last Night When We Were Young" and "Violets for Your Furs." Sinatra also performed the song during three concerts in 1974, at Caesar's Palace, in Philadelphia and Saratoga, New York. Former late-night talk show host Johnny Carson said that "Here's That Rainy Day" by Frank Sinatra was his favorite ballad. Carson and Bette Midler famously sang the song on the next-to-last show of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on May 21, 1992. Singer/songwriter Paul Williams also once sang the song on the show in full ape make up as part of promotion for his latest film Battle For the Planet of the Apes.

After Carson's death in 2005, Doc Severinsen, Tommy Newsom, and Ed Shaughnessy performed the song along with Paul Shaffer and the CBS Orchestra on Late Show with David Letterman. Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 - December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter and performer. The daughter of Nat King Cole, Cole rose to musical success in the mid-1970s as a R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable" and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole reemerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album, Everlasting, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She has sold over 30 million records worldwide. Still Unforgettable is a 2008 studio album by American singer-songwriter and performer Natalie Cole.

Cole won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Still Unforgettable at the 51st Grammy Awards. With Natalie as producer, she's accompanied by Nan Schwartz (arranger); Warren Luening (trumpet) and orchestra. Recorded in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios.

(DMI/Atco Records) Maybe I should have saved those leftover dreams Funny but here's that rainy day Here's that rainy day they told me about And I laughed at the thought that it might turn out this way Where's that worn out wish that I threw aside After it brought my lover near Oh, funny how love becomes a cold rainy day Funny that rainy day is here Where's that worn-out wish that I threw aside After it brought my lover near Say, it's funny how love becomes a cold rainy day Funny that rainy day is here Show less Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Play next Play now Sarah Vaughan Play all Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 -- April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century." Nicknamed "Sailor" (for her salty speech), "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Sarah Vaughan was a Grammy Award winner.

The National Endowment for the Arts bestowed upon her its "highest honor in jazz", the NEA Jazz Masters Award, in 1989. Although Vaughan is usually considered a "Jazz Singer", she avoided classifying herself as such. Indeed, her approach to her "Jazz" work and her commercial "Pop" material was not radically different. Vaughan stuck throughout her career to the jazz-infused style of music that she came of age with, only rarely dabbling in rock-era styles that usually did not suit her unique vocal talents. Vaughan discussed the label in an 1982 interview for Down Beat: "I don't know why people call me a jazz singer, though I guess people associate me with jazz because I was raised in it, from way back. I'm not putting jazz down, but I'm not a jazz singer. Betty Bebop (Carter) is a jazz singer, because that's all she does. I've even been called a blues singer. I've recorded all kinds of music, but (to them) I'm either a jazz singer or a blues singer. I can't sing a blues -- just a right-out blues -- but I can put the blues in whatever I sing.

I might sing 'Send In the Clowns' and I might stick a little bluesy part in it, or any song. What I want to do, music-wise, is all kinds of music that I like, and I like all kinds of music." Vaughan was an accomplished pianist with a fine ear for bebop harmonies, but her most obvious gift was always her powerful voice. Her vocal range was vast in her youth, stretching from true female baritone lows to mezzo-soprano highs; as she aged, her lower register became stronger and her forays into her (still-strong) mezzo register became rare. Musicologist Henry Pleasants notes: "Sarah Vaughan who sings easily down to a contralto low D, ascends to a pure and accurate [soprano] high C." The dynamic range, tonal quality and sheer beauty of her voice were near-operatic, while she attended. Vaughan was proficient at scatting, the improvisatory aspect of her art was focused more on ornamentation, phrasing and variation on melodies, which were almost always jazz standards.

Perhaps her most noticeable musical mannerism was the creative use of often widely "swooping" glissandi through her wide entire vocal range, which was most sonorous in a dark chest register that grew deeper as she aged. Vaughan approached her voice more as a melodic instrument than a vehicle for dramatic interpretation of lyrics, although the expressive qualities of her style did accentuate lyrical meaning and she would often find unique and memorable ways of articulating & coloring individual key words in a lyric. She mainly performed in the contralto range. During her childhood, Vaughan was strongly attracted to the popular music of the day, much to the consternation of her deeply religious father. She was certainly influenced by the gospel traditions that she grew up with in a Baptist church, but the more radically melismatic elements of those influences are less obvious than they would be in later generations of singers in the R&B and hip-hop genres. That Vaughan was also influenced by (and an influence on) her friend and mentor, Billy Eckstine, is obvious in the numerous duet recordings they made together.

However, since no recordings exist of Vaughan prior to her joining Eckstine in the Earl Hines band (nor with the Hines band) it is difficult to know with any certainty what stylistic nuances she absorbed during the critical first years of her performing career. Perhaps because of the individuality of her style, Vaughan has rarely been overtly imitated by subsequent generations of singers, unlike such contemporaries of hers as Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra or, later, Aretha Franklin. Many modern artists, however, have claimed Sarah Vaughan as a major influence, chief among them Teena Marie, Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Chrisette Michele, Amy Winehouse & Alison Goldfrapp. Even in death she retains a loyal following and attracts new fans through her recorded legacy, most of which remains in commercial release. In 1989, Vaughan's health began to decline, although she rarely revealed any hints in her performances. She canceled a series of engagements in Europe in 1989 citing the need to seek treatment for arthritis in the hand.

During a run at New York's Blue Note Jazz Club in 1989, Vaughan received a diagnosis of lung cancer & was too ill to finish the final day of what would turn out to be her final series of public performances. Vaughan returned to her home in California to begin chemotherapy and spent her final months alternating stays in the hospital & at home. Vaughan demanded to be taken home, where she died on the evening of April 3, 1990, while watching a television movie featuring her daughter. 4:49 Billie Holiday Play all Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan April 7, 1915 -- July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo.

Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of American pop vocals forever." She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording. Music critic Robert Christgau called her "uncoverable, possibly the greatest singer of the century". Her distinctive delivery made Billie Holiday's performances instantly recognizable throughout her career. A master of improvisation, Billie's well-trained ear more than compensated for her lack of music education. Her voice lacked range and was somewhat thin, plus years of excessive drug use eventually altered its texture and gave it a prepossessing fragility. The emotion with which she imbued each song remained not only intact but also profound. Her last major recording, a 1958 album entitled Lady in Satin, features the backing of a 40-piece orchestra conducted and arranged by Ray Ellis.

Frank Sinatra admired Holiday, having been influenced by her performances on 52nd Street as a young man. He told Ebony in 1958 about her impact: With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years. In early 1959 Holiday learned that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking. By May she had lost twenty pounds. Friends Leonard Feather, Joe Glaser, and Allan Morrison tried to get her to check into a hospital, but she put them off. On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room.

Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person. Her funeral mass was held at Church of St. Paul the Apostle in New York City.

Gilbert Millstein of The New York Times, who had been the narrator at Billie Holiday's 1956 Carnegie Hall concerts and had partly written the sleeve notes for the album The Essential Billie Holiday (see above), described her death in these same 1961-dated sleeve notes: Billie Holiday died in the Metropolitan Hospital, New York, on Friday, July 17, 1959, in the bed in which she had been arrested for illegal possession of narcotics a little more than a month before, as she lay mortally ill; in the room from which a police guard had been removed -- by court order -- only a few hours before her death, which, like her life, was disorderly and pitiful. She had been strikingly beautiful, but she was wasted physically to a small, grotesque caricature of herself. The worms of every kind of excess -- drugs were only one -- had eaten her ... The likelihood exists that among the last thoughts of this cynical, sentimental, profane, generous and greatly talented woman of 44 was the belief that she was to be arraigned the following morning. She would have been, eventually, although possibly not that quickly.

In any case, she removed herself finally from the jurisdiction of any court here below. Billie Holiday recorded extensively for four labels: Columbia Records, issued on its subsidiary labels Brunswick Records, Vocalion Records, and OKeh Records, from 1933 through 1942; Commodore Records in 1939 and 1944; Decca Records from 1944 through 1950; briefly for Aladdin Records in 1951; Verve Records and on its earlier imprint Clef Records; from 1952 through 1957, then again for Columbia Records from 1957 to 1958 and finally for MGM Records in 1959. Many of Holiday's recordings appeared on 78 rpm records prior to the long-playing vinyl record era, and only Clef, Verve, and Columbia issued Holiday albums during her lifetime that were not compilations of previously released material. Many compilations have been issued since her death; as well as comprehensive box sets and live recordings.

3:30 Ella Fitzgerald Play all Ella Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 -- June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella", was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves (D♭3 to D♭6). She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing. Fitzgerald was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 59-year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums, won 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush. Fitzgerald was born in Newport News, Virginia, the daughter of Temperance "Tempie" and William Fitzgerald. The pair separated soon after her birth, and Ella and her mother went to Yonkers, New York, where they eventually moved in with Tempie's longtime boyfriend, Joseph Da Silva.

Fitzgerald's half-sister, Frances Da Silva, was born in 1923. She and her family were Methodists and were active in the Bethany African Methodist Episcopal Church, and she regularly attended worship services, Bible study, and Sunday School. In her youth, Fitzgerald wanted to be a dancer, although she loved listening to jazz recordings by Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby and The Boswell Sisters. She idolized the lead singer Connee Boswell, later saying, "My mother brought home one of her records, and I fell in love with it....I tried so hard to sound just like her." In 1932, her mother died from a heart attack. Following this trauma, Fitzgerald's grades dropped dramatically, and she frequently skipped school. Abused by her stepfather, she ran away to her aunt and, at one point, worked as a lookout at a bordello and also with a Mafia-affiliated numbers runner. When the authorities caught up with her, she was first placed in the Colored Orphan Asylum in Riverdale, Bronx. However, when the orphanage proved too crowded, she was moved to the New York Training School for Girls in Hudson, New York, a state reformatory.

Eventually she escaped and for a time was homeless. She made her singing debut at 17 on November 21, 1934, at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. She pulled in a weekly audience at the Apollo and won the opportunity to compete in one of the earliest of its famous "Amateur Nights". She had originally intended to go on stage and dance, but, intimidated by the Edwards Sisters, a local dance duo, she opted to sing instead in the style of Connee Boswell. She sang Boswell's "Judy" and "The Object of My Affection," a song recorded by the Boswell Sisters, and won the first prize of US$25.00. The career history and archival material from Ella's long career are housed in the Archives Center at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, while her personal music arrangements are at The Library of Congress. Her extensive cookbook collection was donated to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University, and her published sheet music collection is at the Schoenberg Library in New York City. Callaway, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Patti Austin have all recorded albums in tribute to Fitzgerald.

Callaway's album To Ella with Love (1996) features fourteen jazz standards made popular by Fitzgerald, and the album also features the trumpeter Wynton Marsalis. Bridgewater's album Dear Ella (1997) featured many musicians that were closely associated with Fitzgerald during her career, including the pianist Lou Levy, the trumpeter Benny Powell, and Fitzgerald's second husband, double bassist Ray Brown. Bridgewater's following album, Live at Yoshi's, was recorded live on April 25, 1998, what would have been Fitzgerald's 81st birthday. There is a bronze sculpture of Fitzgerald in Yonkers, the city in which she grew up, created by American artist Vinnie Bagwell. It is located southeast of the main entrance to the Amtrak/Metro-North Railroad station in front of the city's old trolley barn. A bust of Fitzgerald is on the campus of Chapman University in Orange, California. On January 10, 2007, the United States Postal Service announced that Fitzgerald would be honored with her own 39-cent postage stamp. The stamp was released in April 2007 as part of the Postal Service's Black Heritage series.

3:25 Dinah Washington Play all Dinah Washington, born Ruth Lee Jones (August 29, 1924 -- December 14, 1963), was an American blues, R&B, gospel, pop and jazz singer, and pianist. She has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the '50s", and called "The Queen of the Blues". She is a 1986 inductee of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and moved to Chicago as a child. She became deeply involved in gospel and played piano for the choir in St. Luke's Baptist Church while still in elementary school. She sang gospel music in church and played piano, directing her church choir in her teens and being a member of the Sallie Martin Gospel Singers. She sang lead with the first female gospel singers formed by Ms. Martin, who was co-founder of the Gospel Singers Convention.

Her involvement with the gospel choir occurred after she won an amateur contest at Chicago's Regal Theater where she sang "I Can't Face the Music". After winning a talent contest at the age of 15, she began performing in clubs. By 1941-42 she was performing in such Chicago clubs as Dave's Rhumboogie and the Downbeat Room of the Sherman Hotel (with Fats Waller). She was playing at the Three Deuces, a jazz club, when a friend took her to hear Billie Holiday at the Garrick Stage Bar. Joe Sherman was so impressed with her singing of "I Understand", backed by The Cats and The Fiddle, who were appearing in the Garrick's upstairs room, that he hired her. During her year at the Garrick - she sang upstairs while Holiday performed in the downstairs room - she acquired the name by which she became known. She credited Joe Sherman with suggesting the change from Ruth Jones, made before Lionel Hampton came to hear Dinah at the Garrick. Hampton's visit brought an offer, and Dinah went to work as his female vocalist in 1943 after she had sung with the band for its opening at the Chicago Regal Theatre.

She sang with the Hampton band for two years. She made her recording debut for the Keynote label that December with "Evil Gal Blues", written by Leonard Feather and backed by Hampton and musicians from his band, including Joe Morris (trumpet) and Milt Buckner (piano). Both that record and its follow-up, "Salty Papa Blues", made Billboard's "Harlem Hit Parade" in 1944. She stayed with Hampton's band until 1946 and, after the Keynote label folded, signed for Mercury Records as a solo singer. Her first record for Mercury, a version of Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'", was another hit, starting a long string of success. Between 1948 and 1955, she had 27 R&B top ten hits, making her one of the most popular and successful singers of the period.

Both "Am I Asking Too Much" (1948) and "Baby Get Lost" (1949) reached Number 1 on the R&B chart, and her version of "I Wanna Be Loved" (1950) crossed over to reach Number 22 on the US pop chart. Her hit recordings included blues, standards, novelties, pop covers, and even a version of Hank Williams' "Cold, Cold Heart" (R&B Number 3, 1951). At the same time as her biggest popular success, she also recorded sessions with many leading jazz musicians, notably Clifford Brown on the 1954 live album Dinah Jams, and also recorded with Cannonball Adderley, Clark Terry, and Ben Webster. In 1959, she had her first top ten pop hit, with a version of "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes", which made Number 4 on the US pop chart. Her band at that time included arranger Belford Hendricks, with Kenny Burrell (guitar), Joe Zawinul (piano), and Panama Francis (drums).

She followed it up with a version of Nat "King" Cole's "Unforgettable. According to Richard S. Ginell at Allmusic: "[She] was at once one of the most beloved and controversial singers of the mid-20th century - beloved to her fans, devotees, and fellow singers; controversial to critics who still accuse her of selling out her art to commerce and bad taste. Her principal sin, apparently, was to cultivate a distinctive vocal style that was at home in all kinds of music, be it R&B, blues, jazz, middle of the road pop - and she probably would have made a fine gospel or country singer had she the time. Hers was a gritty, salty, high-pitched voice, marked by absolute clarity of diction and clipped, bluesy phrasing..." Washington's achievements included appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival (1955--59), the Randalls Island Jazz Festival in New York City (1959), and the International Jazz Festival in Washington D.C. (1962), frequent gigs at Birdland (1958, 1961--62), and performances in 1963 with Count Basie and Duke Ellington.

Performing at the London Palladium, with Queen Elizabeth sitting in a box, Washington told the audience: "There is but one Heaven, one Hell, one queen, and your Elizabeth is an imposter. 2:36 Nat King Cole Play all Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 -- February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer and musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres. He was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 17, 1919. Coles had three brothers: Eddie, Ike, and Freddy, and a half-sister, Joyce Coles. Ike and Freddy would later pursue careers in music as well. When Cole was four years old, he and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where his father, Edward Coles, became a Baptist minister. Cole learned to play the organ from his mother, Perlina Coles, the church organist. His first performance was of "Yes! We Have No Bananas" at age four.

He began formal lessons at 12, eventually learning not only jazz and gospel music, but also Western classical music, performing, as he said, "from Johann Sebastian Bach to Sergei Rachmaninoff". The family lived in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. Cole would sneak out of the house and hang around outside the clubs, listening to artists such as Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, and Jimmie Noone. He participated in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School. Inspired by the performances of Earl Hines, Cole began his performing career in the mid-1930s while still a teenager, adopting the name "Nat Cole". His older brother, Eddie, a bass player, soon joined Cole's band, and they made their first recording in 1936 under Eddie's name. They also were regular performers at clubs. Cole, in fact, acquired his nickname, "King", performing at one jazz club, a nickname presumably reinforced by the otherwise unrelated nursery rhyme about Old King Cole. He also was a pianist in a national tour of Broadway theatre legend Eubie Blake's revue, "Shuffle Along". When it suddenly failed in Long Beach, California, Cole decided to remain there.

He would later return to Chicago in triumph to play such venues as the famed Edgewater Beach Hotel. Cole and two other musicians formed the "King Cole Swingers" in Long Beach and played in a number of local bars before getting a gig on the Long Beach Pike for US$90 ($1,489 today) per week. The trio consisted of Cole on piano, Oscar Moore on guitar, and Wesley Prince on double bass. The trio played in Failsworth throughout the late 1930s and recorded many radio transcriptions. Cole was not only pianist but leader of the combo as well. Radio was important to the King Cole Trio's rise in popularity. Their first broadcast was with NBC's Blue Network in 1938. It was followed by appearances on NBC's Swing Soiree. In the 1940s the trio appeared on the Old Gold, Chesterfield Supper Club and Kraft Music Hall radio shows. Cole's first mainstream vocal hit was his 1943 recording of one of his compositions, "Straighten Up and Fly Right", based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon.

Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, in which he was often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period by hits such as "The Christmas Song", "Nature Boy", "Mona Lisa", "Too Young" (the #1 song in 1951), and his signature tune "Unforgettable". On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues, The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship. Throughout the 1950s, Cole continued to rack up successive hits, selling in millions throughout the world, including "Smile", "Pretend", "A Blossom Fell", and "If I May". Cole was a heavy smoker throughout his life and rarely seen without a cigarette in his hand. He was a smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice its rich sound.

(Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording.) After an operation for stomach ulcers in 1953, he had been advised to stop smoking but did not do so. In December 1964, he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He underwent cobalt and radiation therapy and was initially given a positive prognosis. On January 25, he underwent surgery to remove his left lung. Despite medical treatments, he died on February 15, 1965, at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California. Cole's funeral was held on February 18 at St. James Episcopal Church on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles. His remains were interred inside Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. 3:09 The Mood Lounge Play all Lounge music is a description of music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It is a type of mood music meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place—a jungle, an island paradise, outer space, et cetera—other than where they are listening to it.

The range of lounge music encompasses beautiful music-influenced instrumentals, modern electronica (with chillout, and downtempo influences), while remaining thematically focused on its retro-space-age cultural elements. The earliest type lounge music appeared during the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as light music. Contemporaneously, the term lounge music also denotes the types of music played in hotels (the lounge, the bar), casinos, and piano bars. Exotica, space-age pop, and some forms of easy listening music popular during the 1950s and 1960s are now broadly termed lounge. The term lounge does not appear in textual documentation of the period, such as Billboard magazine or long playing album covers, but has been retrospectively applied. While rock and roll was generally influenced by blues and country, lounge music was derived from jazz and other musical elements borrowed from traditions around the world. Exotica from such artists Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman sold millions of records during its heyday.

It combined music that was popular outside the USA, such as various Latin genres (e.g., Bossa Nova, Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo), Polynesian, French, etc. into a relaxed, palatable sound. Such music could have some instruments exaggerated (e.g., a Polynesian song might have an exotic percussion arrangement using bongos, and vocalists imitating wild animals.) Many of these recordings were portrayed as originating in exotic foreign lands, but in truth were recorded in Hollywood recording studios by veteran session musicians. Another genre, space age pop, mimicked space age sound effects of the time and reflected the public interest in space exploration. With the advent of stereophonic technology, artists such as Esquivel used spatial audio techniques to full effect, creating whooshing sounds with his orchestra. A good deal of lounge music was pure instrumental (i.e., no main vocal part, although there could be minor vocal parts). Sometimes, this music would be theme music from movies or TV shows, although such music could be produced independently from other entertainment productions.

These instrumentals could be produced with an orchestral arrangement, or from an arrangement of instruments very similar to that found in jazz, or even rock and roll such as the Hammond Organ or electric guitar. Swinging music of the era is also considered lounge and consisted of a schmaltzy continuation of the swing jazz era of the 1930s and 1940s, but with more of an emphasis on the vocalist. The legendary Rat Pack of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., along with similar artists such as Bobby Darin, Jackie Gleason, Wayne Newton, Louis Prima, Sonny King, and Sam Butera are notable examples. The music of Burt Bacharach was soon featured as part of many lounge singers' repertoires. Such artists performed mainly at featured lounges in Las Vegas casinos. Lounge singers have a lengthy history stretching back to the decades of the early twentieth century. The somewhat derisive term lounge lizard was coined then, and less well known lounge singers have often been ridiculed as dinosaurs of past eras and parodied for their smarmy delivery of standards.

In any event, these lounge singers, perhaps performing in a hotel or cocktail bar, are usually accompanied by one or two other musicians, and they favor cover songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley. Many well-known performers got their start as lounge singers and musicians. Although he claims not to have worked for very long, Billy Joel worked as a lounge musician and penned the song "Piano Man" about his experience. Not all lounge singers, however, sing lounge music. An ultra lounge is a style of nightclub lounge, that came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Ultra lounges tend to be small to mid-sized venues, smaller than nightclubs,[8] featuring cocktails and an upscale atmosphere. Among the design details, ultra lounge-style nightclubs may have subtly changing neon and vivid-colored lights, and seating groupings for people to socialize. Ultra lounge-style clubs sometimes create privacy around the seating areas with room dividers, sheets or curtains. Unlike most nightclubs, ultra lounges rarely have a separate dance floor. Some clubs have semi-private rooms with mattresses to lounge on and socialize.

The music is often more subdued White-Room or ambient house-influenced music instead of uptempo dance music or techno. These clubs offer a range of cocktails and drinks, and sometimes serve bar food such as tapas-style finger food. 5:22 Dinah Washington facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Dinah Washington Sources Known as “The Queen” or “Miss D,” vocalist Dinah Washington emerged one of the most versatile cross-over artists of the post World Warera. Her gospel-trainedvoice-noted for its rhythmical precision and tonal clarity—performed blues, jazz, and ballads with equal authority. Arnold Shaw, in his book Honkers and Shouters: Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues, stated “She had a flutelike voice, sinuous, caressing, and penetrating. Master of all devices of the blues and gospel shadings--the bent notes, the broken notes, the slides, the anticipations, and the behind-the-beat notes—she handled them with intensity that came from her early church training.” Between 1948 and 1961 Washington made over 400 sides with the Mercury label, recordings that reveal her diversity and popular acclaim.

Renown for her offstage brashness and erratic behavior, Washington spent these years struggling to maintain a successful music career while overcoming the affects of numerous marriages and sporadic crash dieting. Until her death in 1963 she toured nationally playing nightclubs and large venues such as Las Vegas and Carnegie Hall—a 20-year career that influenced younger singers from Ruth Brown to Nancy Wilson. Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama , on August 29, 1924. At age three Ruth’s parents Ollie Jones and Alice Williams took her to Chicago . By age 11 Jones performed as a gospel vocalist and often appeared with her mother (who served her first music instructor) at church recitals across the country. In 1938 the 15-year old vocalist won first prize at an amateur contest at Chicago’s Regal Theatre. She married at 17 and subsequently worked in local nightclubs. Jones studied vocals with renown gospel singer Sallie Martin and became her piano accompanist. Around 1943 she left the gospel field and sang in various Chicago nightclubs, including the Rhumboogie and the Down Beat Room.

Jones worked as washroom attendant at a downtown lounge, the Garrick, often singing with the house band led by trumpeter Walter Fuller. With Lionel Hampton In 1943 Jones’ performances at the Garrick gained the attention of music manager Joe Glaser who informed bandleader Lionel Hampton about the young singing washroom attendant. Hampton, whose band was booked at Chicago’s Regal Theatre came to listened to the young At a Glance … Born Ruth Jones, August 29, 1924, in Tuscatoosa, Alabama; died of an accidental dose of sleeping pills December 14, 1963; daughter of Ollie Jones and Alice Williams; married John Young 1942-43, George Jenkins circa. 1949, Walter Buchanan 1950, Eddie Chamblee 1957, Raphael Campos 1957, Horatio Malt. lard 1959–60, Jackie Hayes 1960, Richard Lane 1963 (all marriages not confirmed); children, two.

Career: Won talent contest as Chicago’s Regal Theater 1938; sang in gospel circuit; 1943 left religious field to perform in Chrcagoareanightclubs; joined Lionel Hampton’s orchestra 1943, and recorded on Keynote label; recorded on Apollo label in Los Angeles 1945; em–barked on solo career 1946; signed contract with Mercury Records in 1948, and over the next decade recorded over three hundred sides; 1958 appeared at the Newport jazz Festival; in 1959 toured Europe signed with the Roulette label in 1962 and owned a Detroit restaurant; performed with Count Basra and Duke Ellington 1963. Awards: National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Grammy Award for Best R&B recording of 1959 (What a Difference a Day Makes), in 1960 voted as one of top ten vocalists of jazz in Leonard Feather’s Encyclopedia of /azz; In 1993 the US Postal Service posthumously dedicated a stamp in Washington’s honor as part of a tribute to rhythm and blues artists. singer.

Immediately impressed, he invited her to sit-in with his orchestra. Following Jones’ impressive Regal guest-performance Hampton hired the young vocalist and gave her the stage name Dinah Washington (other sources credit the name change to Glaser or the Garrick’s owner, Joe Sherman). Because of the American Federation of Musician’s recording ban (August 1942 to October 1943), and the fact that Hampton’s contract with Decca solely required instrumental music, Washington recorded only one side during her three-year stint with the orchestra. Though not a featured recording artist, Washington’s live performances with Hampton’s orchestra became legendary. As Hampton recalled, in his memoir Hamp, “Dinah alone could stop the show….I had to put her down next to closing, because nobody could follow her. She had a background in gospel, and she put something new into the popular songs I had her sing.” Washington’s recording break came in 1943 when pianist and songwriter Leonard Feather organized a session for Eric Bernay’s independent company, Keynote. For the session Feather recruited the Lionel Hampton Sextet which included Hampton on drums and pianist Milt Buckner.

The Keynote recordings featured Feather’s numbers “Evil Gal Blues” and “Salty Papa Blues,” which became hits within the African American record market. Despite the success of her blues recordings, Washington did not return to the studio until May of 1945 when she cut Leonard Feather’s “Blow Top Blues” with the Lionel Hampton Sextet (a single that later became a 1947 hit). While in Los Angeles in December of 1945, Washington made several blues recordings for the Apollo label. Backed by saxophonist Lucky Thompson’s eight piece band, the Apollo dates featured several guest musicians such as Charles Mingus and vibraphonist Milt Jackson. Washington’s voice on the Apollo sides, noted Arnold Shaw in Honkers and Shouters, “had a velvet sheen, and, in its bluer moments, it tore like silk, not satin.” Embarked On Solo Career In late 1946 Washington left Hampton’s band for a solo career. During the same year, she recorded her anthem “Slick Chick on the Mellow Side” for Verve Records.

Around this time, Washington received the billing “The Queen of the Blues”—a title she vehemently rejected (originally the title belonged to Bessie Smith). Yet she could sing blues with authority, as evidenced on her 1947 number “Long John Blues.” Written by Washington “Long John Blues” told, in double entendre and bawdy lyricism, the tale of a dentist lover and his sexually satisfy ing ways. In 1948 Washington signed a contract with the recently founded Mercury label and cut the single “West Side Baby.” In 1949 she scored number one on the Billboard Charts with “Baby Get Lost.” A year later, she recorded with the saxophonist Dave Young’s orchestra, and by 1952 scored a number four hit with the blues classic “Trouble in Mind.” By 1953 Washington made numerous sides with strings. As Mercury records producer Bobby Shad recalled, in Honkers and Shouters, “I recorded Dinah with strings and probably cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars… She was a fantastic singer, unbelievable artist. But you had to catch her on the right night. She thought nothing of being up all night to eight a.m.

and then record at ten a.m.” Recorded Jazz Material During the mid to late 1950s Washington recorded in the company of many of the finest jazz musicians of the period from drummer Jimmy Cobb to saxophonist Julian “Cannonball ” Adderly. Washington’s 1954 album, Dinah Jams, caught her in a live Mercury studio date. The LP’s Los Angeles-based sessions included a nucleus group made up of the newly formed Clifford-Brown Max Roach Quintet, and guest trumpeters Clark Terry and Maynard Ferguson, as well as Washington’s sideman, pianist Junior Mance and bassist Keeter Betts. During March of 1955, Washington returned to the studio. Rejoined by Cobb, Terry, and other guests including saxophonist Paul Quinchette and pianist Wynton Kelly, she recorded the LP Dinah Washington: For Those in Love.

Arranged by Quincy Jones, this jazz-based collection of standards included “This Can’t Be Love,” “I Could Write a Book,” and “You Don’tKnowWhatLovels.” The latter number, noted Barry Kernfield in The Blackwell Record Guide, “is a song of love leading to agony,” and “[Washington] convinces us that she knows fully, direct from experience.” Among the album’s plaintive torch songs,” Blue Gardenia,” noted Jazz scholar Dan Morgenstern, in the liner notes toDinah Washington, The Jazz Sides, emerged “one of Dinah’s greatest ballads. The tune and lyric are first-rate, and she creates and sustains a rare mood….Dinah does the bridge ad lib and then the band follows her out as she reaches the lofty plateau inhabited by Billie Holiday.” Despite her expanding artistic talent, Washington possessed a difficult and demanding personality. In 1957 she worked an extended engagement at Chicago’s Roberts Show Club. In The Autobiography of Black Jazz, the club’s owner, Herman Roberts, recalled,” Dinah was a very complex person … If I made a comment about her show and she knew it wasn’t her idea, she would automatically reject it.

She wanted to be the creator of everything she did.” As Roberts added,” She was both vain and insecure,” and would “cuss out” customers “without really knowing whether they were saying something derogatory or whether they were complimenting her.” In the following years, Washington would often make headlines regarding foul-mouthed comments and abrupt behavior. She often appeared in multi-colored wigs, full length and tight fitting-dresses, and was known to openly criticize performers whom she considered distastefully dressed. Broke Into Pop Market By 1957 Washington married her fifth husband, tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee, and would, over the next few years, marry four more times (though not all of these nine marriages were legally confirmed). Though she suffered through several successive short-lived marriages and battled personal problems, Washington continued on a promising music career. She performed two sets at 1958 Newport Jazz Festival—one of which appeared in part for the documentary film Jazz On a Summer’s Day.

After years of being featured as a blues and jazz-style singer she broke into the pop music market with the 1959 Mercury single “What a Difference a Day Makes” (written and listed on the original recording as “What a Diff’rence a Day Made”). The single made the top ten, appeared on Billboard’s 1959 honor roll of hits, and won a Grammy for best R&B record. During the following year, Washington topped the Billboard charts with two pop duets sung with BrookBenton,” Baby (you’ve Got What it Takes)” and “A Rockin’ Good Day.” 1960 also saw the release Washington’s hit single “This Bitter Earth .” A ballad set in an orchestral accompaniment,” This Bitter Earth” opens in bleak lyrical mood and, by its closing lines, is transformed by Washington into a ballad of love found within an otherwise cold and uncaring world. Voted as one of the “Giants of Jazz” (in the vocalist category) in Leonard Feather’s 1960 work, The Encyclopedia of Jazz, Washington began the decade in anticipation of reaching new artistic and commercial heights. During 1962 she recorded for the Roulette label.

Though most of Washington’s Roulette material proved weak pop material, she did cut Back to the Blues, an album that, as John Koetzner noted in Jazz: The Essential Record Guide, “captures the moment when Washington made an effort to return to her roots, and while it might not quite get there, she handles the material in such a way that it recalls her best singing on those early records.” Six of the tracks were co-written by Washington, and, as Koetzner added,” she closes with ’Me and My Gin, ’ and there’s an ominous sense that’s she’s long been living the song.” Around the time of her Roulette recordings, Washington established a small restaurant in Detroit. In 1963 she worked with Count Basie in Chicago and Duke Ellington in Detroit. That same year, at age 39, she married her ninth husband, Detroit Lions defensive back, Dick “Nightrane” Lane. Recently married and not planning to perform until after the New Year, Washington, who persistently fought to keep her weight down, went on a crash diet. On December 14, 1963, she died from an accidental overdose of sleeping pills.

Singer Ruth Brown recalled, in her memoir Miss Rhythm, “I know Dinah’s death was accidental, for that lady had too much in life to ever put an end to it. I believe she got those pills mixed up because she was desperately trying to lose weight with the aid of mercury injections pumped into her by her ’weight doctor’…. We know today that mercury builds up in the system and can cause liver failure….[Her] final deadly cocktail of brandy and sleeping pills” may have quickly ended her life. Washington’s funeral services were held by prominent Detroit church leader, Reverend C.L. Franklin (the father of Aretha Franklin) at his New Bethel Church, where the Queen’s body laid in a bronze coffin. Washington left behind a vast body of work containing powerfully moving performances and accompaniment by some the finest jazz and studio musicians of the period. Often backed by modernist jazzmen, she nevertheless remained uninfluenced by the scat stylings of bebop. A powerful exponent of blues, Washington’s role in the idiom has, nevertheless, been overemphasized by journalistic music writers (despite her stereotyped billing as “blues singer” she is rarely listed in books on the subject).

By emphasizing Washington’s early blues period many writers have overlooked her gospel training--the integral influence responsible for a projecting delivery and vibrant soulfulness. Proud of her claim that she could sing any kind of music, Washington possessed, as Linda Dahl asserted in Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazz Women, “a riveting personality” which “came through all her material.” Testament to her musical diversity, Washington is often mentioned in works dealing with jazz, blues, and rhythm and blues. Today Washington’s voice accompanies commercials and film soundtracks such as Bridges of Madison Country, which included the numbers “Blue Gardenia” and “Soft Winds.” Among the large number of her rerelease are The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury Vol. 1-7, aseven volume CD set as well as reissues of her earlier blues material. In 1993 the US Postal Service issued, as part of a tribute to rhythm and blues singers series, a stamp in the Queen’s honor, reminding Americans of a great vocalist and a woman of unique character and uncompromising integrity. Dinah Washington, Mellow Mama, (1945 Apollo recordings), Delmark, 1992.

Dinah Washington, The Queen of the Blues 1943-1947, EPM (French CD import), 1998. Dinah Washington, The Complete on Mercury, Voll (1946-49), Vol. 2 (1950-52), Vol. 3 (1952-54), Vol. 4 (1954-56), Vol. 5 (1956-59), Vol. 6 (1958-60), Vol. 7 (1962-65), EmArcy, 1989. Dinah Washington, The Jazz Sides, EmArcy, 1976. Dinah Jams, (recorded 1954), EmArcy, CD reissue 1990. Dinah Washington, In the Land ofHifi, EmArcy, 1956. What a Diff’rence a Day Makes, EmArcy. September in the Rain, EmArcy. Unforgettable, EmArcy. I Concentrate on You, EmArcy. For Lonely Lovers, EmArcy.

The Fats Waller Songbook, EmArcy. Dinah ’62, Roulette. Back to the Blues, Roulette. Dinah Washington, Jazz Masters 15, Verve, 1994. Dinah Washington Sings Standards, Jazz Masters 40, Verve, 1994. Ultimate Dinah Washington, Verve, 1997. Slick Chick (On theMellow Side), Indigo Records, 1997. The Ultimate Dinah Washington (as selected by Abbey Lincoln), Verve, 1997. The Singin’MissD, Verve, 1998. Sources Books Brown Ruth, Miss Rhythm: The Autobiography of Ruth Brown, Rhythm and Blues Legend, Donald Fine Books, 1996, pp. 247-249. Dahl, Linda, Stormy Weather: The Music and the Lives of a Century of Jazz Women, Limelight, 1984, p. 53. Dempsey, Travis J, An Autobiography of Black Jazz, Urban Research Institute, 1983, pp. 192-194.

Feather, Leonard, The Encyclopedia of Jazz, Da Capo, 1960, p. 90. Hampton, Lionel, with James Haskins, Hamp: An Auto-biography, Warner Books, 1989, pp. 85-88. Koetzner, John, MusicHound;Jazz, The Essential record Guide, Invisible Ink Press. Shaw, Arnold, BlackPopular Music in America: From the Spirituals, Minstrels, and Ragtime, to Soul, Disco, and Hip-Hop, Schirmer, 1986, pp. 181-182. Shaw, Arnold, Honkers and Shouters: The Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues, MacMillan, 1978, pp. 143-147. The Blackwell Guide to Recorded Jazz, second edition, edited by Barry Kernfield, pp. 335-336. liner notes: Dan Morgenstern, Dinah Washington, The Jazz Sides, EmArcy, 1976. —John Cohassey Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

MLA Sources Vocalist Dinah Washington “was not just a creature of the blues,” according to Betty De Ramus and Leslie Gourse in Ebony. “She could strut through jazz, slide through pop and break your heart with ballads.” After singing with jazz great Lionel Hampton’s band, she began a successful solo career in the late 1940s that lasted until her untimely death in 1963. Washington’s hits include “I Only Know,” “Time Out for Tears,” and her greatest smash, “What a Difference a Day Makes.” As De Ramus and Gourse elaborated, “Dinah Washington could work magic with a song, taking it apart and stitching it back together in her own quirky and moving way.” Washington began her life as Ruth Jones; she was born August 29, 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama . When she was 3 or 4 years old, her family moved to Chicago , Illinois . By this time, Washington was already telling her mother she wanted to be a show girl, though her primary exposure to music was through church.

When she was 8, her voice was strong enough to sing harmony with her mother, and she was learning to play the piano. Washington soon joined the church choir, and about the time she graduated from high school, she started serving as its director. Meanwhile, Washington was learning more about secular music. She loved big bands, and for high school shows she often performed popular romantic ballads. Her mother disapproved of this interest, and frowned on the idea of Washington singing in local nightclubs; the young vocalist resolved this when, while still in her late teens, she married the first of her many husbands, John Young. After the wedding, she and Young lived with his parents, and she could fulfill singing engagements without her mother’s approval. Wanting to maintain family ties, however, Washington often shared money from these early performances with her relatives without divulging her source of income. For a short time Washington returned professionally to her gospel roots, singing with Sallie Martin’s gospel group. But in 1943 she auditioned for Lionel Hampton’s band and won a place. When she joined Hampton, she changed her name to Dinah Washington for professional reasons.

While with Hampton’s band, her musical efforts won her popularity among jazz fans, and by the late 1940s Washington had decided to pursue a solo career. Having already recorded with Hampton’s band, she easily won a contract with Mercury Records. Beginning in 1950, Washington was constantly topping the rhythm and blues charts. In that year she had several hits, including “I Only Know,” “I Wanna Be Loved’ ‘I’ll Never Be Free,” “It Isn’t Fair,” and “Time Out fc., ears.” Though she followed this feat with yet For the Record… Name originally Ruth Jones; born August 29, 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; died September 14, 1963, in Detroit , Mich., of an accidental overdose of diet pills; daughter of Alice Jones (a pianist and choir director); married at least seven times: husbands included John M. Young; Eddie Chamblee (a saxophone player); and Dick Lane (a professional football player); children: George Jenkins, Bobby Grayson.

Served as a church choir director in her teens; sang in local nightclubs in Chicago, 111., during the early 1940s; sang with Sallie Martin’s gospel group in the early 1940s; performed with Lionel Hampton’s band c. 1943, when she changed her name to Dinah Washington; solo recording artist and concert performer, late 1940s-1963. more success during the early 1950s, and was the best-selling female artist in the rhythm and blues genre at that time, her music did not cross over to white audiences. Washington had the frustrating experience of watching white artists have bigger pop hits with cover versions of songs she had recorded first—such as Kay Starr’s rendition of “Wheel of Fortune,” which had afforded Washington a hit in 1952.

Washington’s other rhythm and blues chartmakers of the period include “Trouble in Mind,” “Fat Daddy,” and “Teach Me Tonight.” Washington’s recording career fell off somewhat during the mid-1950s, but she came back in a big way with 1959’s “What a Difference a Day Makes.” On this bluesy ballad, Washington broke racial barriers to ascend to the Top 10 of the pop charts. She followed “What a Difference” with a popular rendition of the standard “Unforgettable.” In 1960 Washington got together with burgeoning singing success Brook Benton to record the album The Two of Us, which contained the pop hits “Baby, You’ve Got What It Takes” and “A Rockin’ Good Way.” She continued to have rhythm and blues hits in the early 1960s as well, such as “This Bitter Earth .” Washington switched to Roulette Records in 1962, scoring a Top 40 pop hit with “Where Are You.” As early as 1955 the vocalist had begun appearing in films—that year’s Rock and Roll Revue and 1960’s Jazz on a Summer’s Day being notable among them.

In addition to having an affecting voice, Washington also possessed a forceful personality. She was not shy about calling herself “the Queen of the Blues.” A friend recounted for Ebony’s De Ramus and Gourse a time when she was speaking to Washington on the phone while watching singer Lou Rawls on television. Noticing her friend’s attention wandering, Washington rebuked her: “She’s telling me she watchin’ Lou Rawls and she talkin’ to the Queen. Are you crazy for real?” Washington also had a tendency to call other women that she worked with “bitches.” Nevertheless, she reportedly possessed a kind heart. Eddie Chamblee, one of Washington’s husbands, told De Ramus and Gourse that “she would curse you out or she would curse out a club owner and then put a girl in the hospital for her to have a baby and pay all the expenses.” But Washington also had trouble controlling her use of diet pills. According to one of her pianists, quoted in Essence, the singer often gained weight and didn’t know how to lose it again without the aid of pills.

Chamblee explained further to De Ramus and Gourse: “Dinah would take pills, drink and forget she had taken her pills.” He stressed, however, as have most other sources, that “her death was a pure and simple accident.” Though she was not suicidal, Washington died of an overdose of diet pills on December 14, 1963. Selected singles; on Mercury Records, except where ected “I Only Know,” 1950. “I Wanna Be Loved,” 1950. “I’ll Never Be Free,” 1950. “I sn ’ t Know,” 1950. “Time Out for Tears,” 1950. “I Won’t Cry Anymore,” 1951. “New Blowtop Blues,” 1952. “TV Is the Thing,” 1953. “I Don’t Hurt Anymore,” 1954. “Teach Me Tonight,” 1954. “That’s All I Want From You,” 1955. “What a Difference a Day Makes,” 1959. “Unforgettable,” 1959.

(With Brook Benton) “Baby, You’ve Got What It Takes,” 1960. (With Benton) “A Rockin’ Good Way,” 1960. “September in the Rain,” 1961. “Where Are You,” Roulette, 1962. Selected albums; on Mercury Records and subsidiaries Best of the Blues, 1957. Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith, 1958. What a Difference a Day Makes, 1959. Unforgettable, 1959. (With Benton) The Two of Us, 1960. For Lonely Lovers, 1961. September in the Rain, 1961. This Is My Story, 1963. Late, Late Show, 1964. Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller, 1965. (With Quincy Jones) Queen and Quincy, 1967. Discovered, 1967.

Also recorded albums on Roulette Records, including Back to the Blues, Best of Dinah Washington, Dinah ’62, Dinah ’63, Dinah Washington, Drinking Again, In Love and Tribute, Strangers on Earth, World of Dinah Washington, and Dinah Washington Years.

Question: Ruth Lee Jones was the real name of which American singer, popular in the. 1950s who died in 1963 aged 39?
Answer: DINAH WASHINGTON