Dinah Washington
Dinah Washington (born August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa , Alabama , † December 14, 1963 in Detroit , Michigan ; actually Ruth Lee Jones ) was an American singer of swing jazz , rhythm and blues and pop music .
Life
Her family moved to Chicago when she was three years old . She sang in the church choir early on and became a member of Salle Martin's Gospel Choir, which toured the Chicago area. When she was 15 years old, she won an amateur competition that launched her professional career. Her activities were initially divided: on the one hand she led the church choir, on the other hand she played the piano in clubs. At the age of 18 she switched from gospel to jazz.
In 1942 she played in the Garrick Stage Bar, where Joe Glaser heard her. He recommended her to Lionel Hampton . From 1943 to 1946 she sang in his band; he also caused her to change her name to Dinah Washington. She had her first hit in 1943 with Evil Gal Blues , which Leonard Feather wrote and arranged for her. She was accompanied by members of the Hampton band. The piece was released on the short-lived Keynote Records label . During this phase her singing became more and more jazzy, as evidenced by recordings with Lucky Thompson from 1945.
After the end of the Keynote label, she switched to Mercury Records or its sister label EmArcy . In 1947 she recorded her first R&B records and in 1948 she had her first hits in the R&B charts . She had her first hit on the Billboard pop charts in June 1950 with the then popular Johnny Green song I Wanna Be Loved (# 22). She achieved her next success in December 1954 with the song Teach Me Tonight by Gene De Paul and Sammy Cahn (# 23).
In 1955 she recorded an album with the Quincy Jones Orchestra ( The Swingin 'Miss D ). In 1957 she performed at the Newport Jazz Festival . Similar to Ella Fitzgerald , her producers had her record songbook albums; The Fats Waller Songbook was created in 1957, and in 1958 she recorded songs by Bessie Smith . Her breakthrough came in 1959 with What a Diff'rence a Day Makes , which would become her best-known title ( Grammy Best R&B Performance ). Similar to Nat King Cole or Ray Charles , their song material changed through the arrangements more to artistic mainstream and popular music. So she concentrated on ballads like Unforgettable (1959) with string accompaniment. In 1962 she switched to Roulette Records, where she was accompanied by studio orchestras on her recordings , but could not maintain the artistic level of the Mercury recordings. Shortly before her death, considerable live recordings were made of three radio recordings from the Birdland Club , in which she was accompanied by Joe Zawinul , among others . She died on December 14, 1963 at the age of 39 from an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol.
Dinah Washington was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2003. Three of her songs have been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame to date : What a Diff'rence a Day Makes (1998), Teach Me Tonight (1999) and Unforgettable (2001). She was known as the Queen of Blues . In her singing she combined the harshness of gospel shouting with the tenderness of the skilfully phrasing, cultivated ballad singer. With her singing style, she influenced many subsequent artists such as Nancy Wilson or Diane Schuur .
Dinah Washington had a turbulent private life and was married seven times, including 1957 to 1959 with the R&B saxophonist Eddie Chamblee , who also participated in her recordings of that time, and 1961 to 1962 with the twelve years younger actor Rafael Campos . Her last husband was American football pro Dick Lane , who also found her lifeless. The autopsy revealed a lethal dose of secobarbital and amobarbital .
Discography
Albums
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
 US
|
|||
| 1964 | A Stranger On Earth |
US130 (6 weeks) US |
More albums
- 1945: Mellow Mama (Delmark, with Lucky Thompson , Milt Jackson , Charles Mingus )
- Complete 1943-1951 Mercury Master Takes (Jazz Factory, with orchestras and bands from Chubby Jackson , Gerald Wilson , Cootie Williams , Lionel Hampton )
- Queen of the Juke Box “Live” 1948–1955 (Baldwin Street, with Wynton Kelly , Junior Mance , Percy Heath , Art Blakey , Jimmy Cobb , and the Dizzy Gillespie Orchestra)
- 1954: Dinah Jams (Emarcy)
- 1955: For Those in Love (Emarcy, with Clark Terry , Paul Quinichette )
- 1955: The Swingin 'Miss D ( Verve Records , with Quincy Jones )
- Live at Birdland 1962 (Baldwin Street, with Joe Zawinul )
- The Complete Roulette Dinah Washington Sessions 1962/63 ( Mosaic ) 5 CDs with Frank Wess , Kenny Burrell , Illinois Jacquet , Eddie Chamblee , Cecil Payne , Milt Hinton , George Duvivier
- 1992: Mad About the Boy (Levi's Commercial) (DE: Gold in Jazz Award)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 UK
|
US
|
R&B
|
|||
| 1944 | Evil Gal Blues | - | - | - |
R&B9 (... weeks) R&B |
Sextet with Dinah Washington
|
| Salty Papa Blues | - | - | - |
R&B8 (... weeks) R&B |
Sextet with Dinah Washington
|
|
| 1948 | Ain't misbehavin ' | - | - | - |
R&B6 (... weeks) R&B |
|
| Am I Asking Too Much | - | - | - |
R&B1 (... week) R&B |
||
| I want to cry | - | - | - |
R&B11 (... weeks) R&B |
||
| Resolution blues | - | - | - |
R&B15 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of I Want to Cry
|
|
| It's Too Soon to Know | - | - | - |
R&B2 (... weeks) R&B |
||
| West side baby | - | - | - |
R&B7 (... weeks) R&B |
||
| Walkin 'and Talkin' (And Crying My Blues Away) | - | - | - |
R&B13 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of West Side Baby
|
|
| 1949 | Baby Get Lost | - | - | - |
R&B1 (... week) R&B |
Mercury (# 8148)
|
| Long John Blues | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of Baby Get Lost
|
|
| Good daddy blues | - | - | - |
R&B9 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8154)
|
|
| You Satisfy | - | - | - |
R&B8 (... weeks) R&B |
||
| 1950 | I only know | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8163)
|
| I'll never be free | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8187)
|
|
| It isn't fair | - | - | - |
R&B5 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8195)
|
|
| Time out for tears | - | - | - |
R&B8 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 5503)
|
|
| I wanna be loved | - | - |
US22 (... weeks) US |
R&B5 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8181)
|
|
| Mad About The Boy |
DE93 (3 weeks) DE |
UK41 (4 weeks) UK |
- | - |
Chart entry in DE and UK only in 1992
|
|
| 1951 | Cold, cold heart | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 5728)
|
| Harbor Lights | - | - | - |
R&B10 (... wk.) R&B |
Mercury (# 5728)
|
|
| My Heart Cries for You | - | - | - |
R&B7 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8209)
|
|
| I won't cry anymore | - | - | - |
R&B6 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8211)
|
|
| 1952 | Wheel of Fortune | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8267)
|
| Tell Me Why | - | - | - |
R&B7 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of the Wheel of Fortune
|
|
| Trouble in Mind | - | - | - |
R&B4 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 8269)
|
|
| New blowtop blues | - | - | - |
R&B5 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of Trouble in Mind
|
|
| 1953 | TV is the Thing (This Year) | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70214)
|
| Fat daddy | - | - | - |
R&B10 (... wk.) R&B |
B-side of TV is the Thing (This Year)
|
|
| 1954 | I don't hurt anymore | - | - | - |
R&B3 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70439)
|
| Dream | - | - | - |
R&B9 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of I Don't Hurt Anymore
|
|
| Teach me tonight | - | - | - |
R&B4 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70497)
|
|
| 1955 | That's all I want from you | - | - | - |
R&B8 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70537)
|
| If It's the Last Thing I Do | - | - | - |
R&B13 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70600)
|
|
| I Diddie | - | - | - |
R&B14 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of If It's the Last Thing I Do
|
|
| I concentrate on you | - | - | - |
R&B11 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70694)
|
|
| I'm lost without you tonight | - | - | - |
R&B13 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70728)
|
|
| You Might Have Told Me | - | - | - |
R&B14 (... weeks) R&B |
B-side of I'm Lost without You Tonight
|
|
| 1956 | Soft winds | - | - | - |
R&B13 (... weeks) R&B |
Mercury (# 70906)
|
| 1958 | Make Me a Present of You | - | - | - |
R&B27 (1 week) R&B |
Mercury (# 71377)
|
| 1959 | What A Diff'rence A Day Makes What A Diff'rence A Day Makes |
- | - |
US8 (20 weeks) US |
R&B4 (17 weeks) R&B |
Grammy 1960
1934 hit for The Dorsey Brothers |
| Unforgettable Unforgettable |
- | - |
US17 (13 weeks) US |
R&B15 (9 weeks) R&B |
1952 hit for Nat King Cole
|
|
| 1960 | Baby (You've Got What It Takes) | - | - |
US5 (15 weeks) US |
R&B1 (17 weeks) R&B |
with Brook Benton
|
| It could happen to you | - | - |
US53 (6 weeks) US |
- | ||
| A rockin 'good way | - | - |
US7 (13 weeks) US |
R&B1 (13 weeks) R&B |
with Brook Benton
|
|
| This bitter earth | - | - |
US24 (14 weeks) US |
R&B1 (16 weeks) R&B |
||
| Love Walked In | - | - |
US30 (10 weeks) US |
R&B16 (5 weeks) R&B |
||
| We have love | - | - |
US76 (3 weeks) US |
- | ||
| 1961 | Early Every Morning (Early Every Evening Too) | - | - |
US95 (1 week) US |
- | |
| Our Love Is Here To Stay | - | - |
US89 (3 weeks) US |
- | ||
| September in the Rain | - |
UK35 (4 weeks) UK |
US23 (11 weeks) US |
R&B5 (10 weeks) R&B |
1937 a hit for Guy Lombardo
|
|
| 1962 | Tears and Laughter | - | - |
US71 (5 weeks) US |
- | |
| You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You | - | - |
US87 (1 week) US |
- | ||
| Dream | - | - |
US92 (2 weeks) US |
- | ||
| Where are you | - | - |
US36 (12 weeks) US |
- | ||
| I want to be loved | - | - |
US76 (4 weeks) US |
- | ||
| For All We Know | - | - |
US88 (2 weeks) US |
- | ||
| I Wouldn't Know (What To Do) | - | - |
US93 (1 week) US |
- | ||
| Cold, cold heart | - | - |
US96 (1 week) US |
- | ||
| You're a sweetheart | - | - |
US98 (2 weeks) US |
- | ||
| 1963 | Soulville | - | - |
US92 (3 weeks) US |
- | |
gray hatching : no chart data available for this year
literature
- Ken Bloom: The American Songbook - The Singers, the Songwriters, and the Songs . Black Dog & Leventhal, New York City 2005, ISBN 1-57912-448-8 .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Nadine Cohodas: Queen: the life and music of Dinah Washington . Pantheon Books, New York 2004, ISBN 0-375-42148-3 .
Web links
- Dinah Washington at Discogs (English)
- English-language homepage about the biography Queen
- Dinah Washington at Allmusic (English)
- Dinah Washington. In: FemBio. Women's biography research (with references and citations).
Individual evidence
- ^ Grammy Hall of Fame
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US US before 1958
- ↑ Gold / platinum database of the Federal Music Industry Association, accessed on July 3, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Washington, Dinah |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jones, Ruth Lee (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer of swing jazz, rhythm and blues and pop music |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 29, 1924 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tuscaloosa , Alabama, United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 14, 1963 |
| Place of death | Detroit , Michigan, United States |