Sarah Vaughan | Artist
Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer born 1924 in Newark, New Jersey. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", Vaughan won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine Grammy Awards. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano at services. She developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio. In the 1930s, she frequently saw local and touring bands at the Montgomery Street Skating Rink. By her mid-teens, she began venturing illegally into Newark's night clubs and performing as a pianist and singer at the Piccadilly Club and the Newark Airport. When she was 18 years old Vaughan suggested that her friend Doris Robinson enter the Apollo Theatre Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later went back to compete herself, singing "Body and Soul", and she won. The prize was $10 and a week's engagement at the Apollo. On November 20, 1942, she returned to the Apollo to open for Ella Fitzgerald. During her engagement, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines who offered her a job on the spot. Vaughan spent the remainder of 1943 and part of 1944 touring the country with the Earl Hines big band which was an incubator of bebop, as it included Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Vaughan began her solo career in 1945 on 52nd Street New York City, working at the Three Deuces, the Famous Door, the Downbeat, and the Onyx Club. On May 11 1945, she recorded "Lover Man" for Guild with a quintet featuring Gillespie and Parker. Later that month, she went into the studio with a larger combo and recorded three more sides, launching her recording success. Vaughan signed with the giant Columbia record label in 1949 and straight away had chart successes with a string of hits including "Black Coffee", "That Lucky Old Sun", "Make Believe", "Saint or Sinner", "My Tormented Heart", and "Time". She won Esquire magazine's New Star Award for 1947 plus awards from Down Beat magazine (1947-1952), and Metronome magazine (1948-1953). Vaughan continued her stellar career as a Jazz singer plus she crossed over into mainstream popular music. Her discography includes some 76 studio albums over four decades up to her death in 1990. Standout albums include Sarah Vaughan (1955), Sarah Vaughan Sings George Gershwin (1959), After Hours (1961), The Lonely Hours (1964), Sassy Swings Again (1967) and the live album Sassy Swings the Tivoli (1963). Her obituary in The New York Times described her as a "singer who brought an operatic splendor to her performances of popular standards and jazz." Jazz singer Mel Torme said that she had "the single best vocal instrument of any singer working in the popular field." Her ability was also envied by Frank Sinatra who said, "Sassy is so good now that when I listen to her I want to cut my wrists with a dull razor."
Artist Website: wikipedia/Sarah_Vaughan
Featured Albums: Sarah Vaughan
Related Artists: Count Basie, Billy Eckstine
Video Clips: Misty, Mean to Me, Summertime
