Elisabeth Welch (born 19 February 1904, New York – died 15 July 2003, Northwood, Middlesex, United Kingdom) was an American born singer, actress, and entertainer whose career spanned seven decades, many years of which she was based in Britain.[1]
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Elisabeth Welch was born in New York on 19 February 1904. Her father was the chief gardener in an estate in Englewood, New Jersey. He was of mixed race being Afro-American and Native American. Her mother was Scottish of Irish descent. She had intended to go, after finishing High School, into Social Work, but instead became a singer. She started her career in New York, went on to Paris (France), and from there went on to Britain where she remained for the seventy years left in her life. In 1928, she was married to Luke Smith, a musician and remained with him until his death in 1936. They had no children. She died a few months short of her hundredth birthday in Northwood, London on 15 July 2003.
After her first appearance in "Liza" in 1922, Elisabeth Welch was the initial singer of the Charleston in the show "Runnin' Wild" (1923). During the 1920s she appeared in several Negro Broadway shows.
She made relatively few recordings. Prior to moving to Europe, she only made one record ("Doin' The New Lowdown") b/w 'Digga Digga Do" as vocalist for the Irving Mills assembled "Hotsy Totsy Gang" (Brunswick 4014, July, 27, 1928).
One of these was taken to Paris where she, following co-artist Josephine Baker, was in a number of cabaret shows, including performances at the Moulin Rouge. She was asked to return to New York where she replaced a singer in The New Yorkers where she sang 'Love for Sale'. Cole Porter, its composer, met her after in Paris, and later requested that she perform his song 'Solomon' in Nymph Errant in London. Before this show was available. she was given permission to perform in Dark Doings, in which she sang 'Stormy Weather', which she took as her signature tune.
She was seen by Ivor Novello, who offered her a part in his new show Glamorous Nights, in which she sang 'Far Away in Shanty Town'. During the late 1930s, Elisabeth Welch entered two different media. She appeared in several films, usually as a singer, including two with American singer and actor Paul Robeson. She was one of the first artists to perform on TV, as she was asked by the BBC to appear on their new TV service from a studio in Alexandra Palace. During World War II she stayed in London in spite of the Blitz. She also entertained the armed forces along with many other artists.
After the war she was in many West End shows, including a number of revues. She continued on both TV and Radio and was even in one pantomime, Aladdin. She also had a series of one-woman shows that lasted until 1990. She was in the Royal Variety Performance in both 1979 and 1986.
In 1980, she returned to New York to appear in "Black Broadway" after an absence of nearly fifty years, and appeared there again in 1986 where she did a one-woman show that earned her an Obie Award. Her final performance was in 1996 for a TV documentary where she sang Stormy Weather at the age of 93.