Dinah Washington
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| Dinah Washington | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Ruth Lee Jones |
| Also known as | Queen of the Blues |
| Born | August 29, 1924 |
| Origin | Tuscaloosa, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 1963 (aged 39) |
| Genre(s) | Blues, R&B, Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1943 – 1963 |
| Label(s) | Keynote, Mercury, EmArcy, Roulette |
Dinah Washington (August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was a blues, R&B and jazz singer. Because of her strong voice and emotional singing, she is known as the Queen of the Blues.[1] Despite dying at the early age of 39, Washington became one of the most influential vocalists of the twentieth century,[2] [3] credited among others as a major influence on Aretha Franklin. [4] [5]
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[edit] Early life
Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Her family moved to Chicago while she was still a child. As a child in Chicago she played piano and directed her church choir. She later studied in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School. At 16 as Ruth Jones, she toured the United States' black gospel circuit with Roberta Martin, accompanying her at the piano.[6] There was a period when she both performed in clubs as Dinah Washington while singing and playing piano in Sallie Martin's gospel choir as Ruth Jones.
Her penetrating voice, excellent timing, and crystal-clear enunciation added her own distinctive style to every piece she undertook. While making extraordinary recordings in jazz, blues, R&B and light pop contexts, Washington refused to record gospel music despite her obvious talent in singing it. She believed it wrong to mix the secular and spiritual, and after she had entered the non-religious professional music world she refused to include gospel in her repertoire. Washington began performing as a teenager in 1942 and soon joined Lionel Hampton's band. There is some dispute about the origin of her name. Some sources say the manager of the Garrick Stage Bar gave her the name Dinah Washington, while others say Hampton selected it.
[edit] Rise to fame
In 1943 she began recording for Keynote Records and released the 12-bar blues "Evil Gal Blues", her first hit. By 1955 she had released numerous hit songs on the R&B charts, including "Baby, Get Lost," "Trouble in Mind," "You Don't Know What Love Is" (arranged by Quincy Jones), and a cover of "Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams. In March of 1957 she married tenor saxophonist Eddie Chamblee (formerly on tour with Lionel Hampton), who led the band behind her. In 1958 she made a well-received appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival.
With "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" 1959, Washington won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance. The song was her biggest hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The commercially driven album of the same name, with its heavy reliance on strings and wordless choruses, was slammed by jazz and blues critics for being too commercial and for straying from her blues roots. Despite this, the album was a huge success and Washington continued to favor more commercial, pop-oriented songs rather than traditional blues and jazz songs. Along with a string of other hits, she followed this with "September In The Rain," which reached #35 in the UK in November 1961 and #23 in the USA. In 1960, she also had two top-10 hit duets with Brook Benton: "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" and "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall In Love)." She was well known for singing torch songs.[7] Her rendition of the popular standard "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was well regarded; a 40-song box set of the same name was released in 1999.[8]
[edit] Selective awards and recognitions
[edit] Grammy Award
| Year | Category | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Best Rhythm & Blues Performance | What a Diff'rence a Day Makes | R&B |
[edit] Grammy Hall of Fame
Recordings by Dinah Washington was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."[9]
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | Year Inducted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Unforgettable | Pop (Single) | Mercury | 2001 |
| 1954 | Teach Me Tonight | R&B (Single) | Mercury | 1999 |
| 1959 | What a Diff'rence a Day Makes | Traditional Pop (Single) | Mercury | 1998 |
[edit] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed a song of Dinah Washington as one of the 500 songs that shaped rock.[10]
| Year Recorded | Title | Genre |
|---|---|---|
| 1948 | Am I Asking Too Much? | R&B |
[edit] Honors and Inductions
In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issues a Dinah Washington 29 cent commemorative postage stamp.
| Year | Title | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | Inducted | Early Influences |
| 1984 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame | Inducted | |
[edit] Queen of the Blues
Washington was married seven times in the U.S., with an eighth wedding performed in Stockholm, Sweden[citation needed], and divorced six times while having several lovers, including Quincy Jones)[citation needed], her young arranger. Legend has it that she wore mink in all weathers and carried two .45-caliber pistols with her. Although she had a reputation as imperious and demanding, many found her loving, funny, generous and forgiving[citation needed]. Audiences sensed this remarkable combination of qualities and loved her. In London she once declared, "...there is only one heaven, one earth and one queen...Queen Elizabeth is an impostor"; the crowd loved it[citation needed].
About six months after her marriage to football player Dick "Night Train" Lane, she died, aged 39, from an accidental overdose of prescription sleeping medication ingested on an empty stomach. Washington, who was 5'2" (1.58 m) tall and had fought weight problems for most of her life, was dieting to lose weight before a New Year's Eve party.
[edit] Legacies
In 2007, R&B platinum-selling singer Deborah Cox reinterpreted the classic songs of Dinah Washington on her fourth album Destination Moon.
A recent surge in popularity can be credited to a promo being run by Doubletree Hotels which features "Relax Max", a catchy tune from the The Swingin' Miss "D" album.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- 1950: Dinah Washington Songs
- 1952: Blazing Ballads
- 1952: Dynamic Dinah
- 1953: After Hours with Miss D
- 1954: Jazz Sides
- 1954: Dinah Jams
- 1956: In the Land of Hi-Fi
- 1956: Dinah!
- 1956: The Swingin' Miss D
- 1957: The Fats Waller Songbook
- 1957: The Bessie Smith Songbook
- 1957: Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith
- 1957: Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller
- 1957: Music for a First Love
- 1957: Music for Late Hours
- 1958: Newport (1958) [live]
- 1959: The Queen
- 1959: What a Diff'rence a Day Makes!
- 1960: I Concentrate on You
- 1960: Two of Us
- 1962: In Love
- 1962: Dinah '62
- 1962: Drinking Again
- 1962: Tears and Laughter
- 1963: Back to the Blues
- 1963: Dinah '63
- 1963: In Tribute
- 1963: The Good Old Days
- 1963: The Late, Late Show
- 1964: A Stranger on Earth
[edit] Hit singles
| Year | Single | US R&B Singles | US Pop Singles | Album |
| 1955 | "I Concentrate On You" | #11 | - | The Complete Dinah Washington |
| 1955 | "If It's the Last Thing I Do" | #13 | - | In Love |
| 1955 | "That's All I Want From You" | #8 | - | 50 Greatest Hits |
| 1955 | "You Might Have Told Me" | #14 | - | 50 Greatest Hits |
| 1956 | "I'm Lost Without You Tonight" | #13 | - | 50 Greatest Hits |
| 1956 | "Soft Winds" | #13 | - | 50 Greatest Hits |
| 1958 | "Make Me a Present of You" | #27 | - | Dinah! |
| 1959 | "Unforgettable" | #15 | #17 | The Complete Dinah Washington |
| 1959 | "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" | #4 | #8 | What a Diff'rence a Day Makes |
| 1960 | "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" (with Brook Benton) | #1 | #5 | Two of Us |
| 1960 | "Love Walked In" | #16 | #30 | Two of Us |
| 1960 | "This Bitter Earth" | #1 | #24 | Golden Hits |
| 1960 | "A Rockin' Good Way (To Mess Around and Fall In Love)" (with Brook Benton) | #1 | #7 | Two of Us |
| 1961 | "September In the Rain" | #5 | #23 | Greatest Hits Vol. 1 |
| 1962 | "Cold, Cold Heart" | - | #96 | The Ultimate Dinah Washington |
| 1962 | "Where Are You?" | - | #36 | Dinah '62 |
| 1962 | "You're a Sweetheart" | - | #98 | In Love |
| 1962 | "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You" | - | #87' | Dinah '62 |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ 'Dinah the Queen'
- ^ 'Documentarist Ken Burns takes on jazz'
- ^ Dinah Washington Biography'
- ^ '"Queen of Soul" Aretha Franklin'
- ^ 'One of the best singers ever, Aretha Franklin!'
- ^ Bogdanov et al. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues p. 373. Backbeat Books. ISBN 0879307366
- ^ New York Times. April 7, 1998. Peter Marks. Theater Review: Queen Of Blues Is Royally Annoyed With Life
- ^ Barnes & Noble. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: Best of Dinah Washington
- ^ Grammy Hall of Fame Database
- ^ 500 Songs That Shaped Rock
- Queen of the Blues: A Biography of Dinah Washington, Jim Haskins, 1987, William Morrow & Co. ISBN 0-688-04846-3
[edit] External links
- Dinah Washington profile (Verve Records website)
- Dinah Washington's Gravesite
