Alberta Hunter
b. 1 April 1895, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 17 October 1984. Growing up in Chicago, Hunter began her remarkable career singing at Dago Frank's, one of the city's least salubrious whorehouses. There she sang for the girls, the pimps and the customers, earning both their admiration and good money from tips. Later, she moved on and marginally upwards to a job singing in Hugh Hoskins's saloon. She continued to move through Chicago's saloons and bars, gradually developing a following. She entered the bigtime with an engagement at the Dreamland Cafe, where she sang with Joe ‘King’ Oliver's band. Amongst the songs she sang was Down Hearted Blues, which she composed in collaboration with Lovie Austin and which was recorded in 1923 by Bessie Smith. During the '20s and early '30s Hunter often worked in New York, singing and recording with many leading jazzmen of the day, amongst them Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, Eubie Blake, Fletcher Henderson and Fats Waller. She also appeared in various shows on and off Broadway. A visit to London prompted so much interest that she was offered the role of Queenie in Show Boat at the Drury Lane Theatre, playing opposite Paul Robeson. This was in the 1928/9 season and during the '30s she returned frequently to London to appear at hotels and restaurants, including an engagement at the Dorchester Hotel with Jack Jackson's popular band. She also appeared in the UK musical film, Radio Parade Of 1935. The '30s saw her in Paris and Copenhagen too, always meeting with enormous success. In the '40s she continued to appear at New York clubs and to make records, notably with Eddie Heywood. Amongst these recordings are two of her own compositions, My Castle's Rockin’ and The Love I Have For You. In the war years she toured extensively to perform for US troops. In the early '50s she visited the UK with Snub Mosley and again toured with the USO, this time to Korea. She played a number of club dates but these were increasingly hard times and in 1954 she retired from showbusiness. By then aged 60, she began a new career as a nurse. In 1961 writer and record producer Chris Alberston persuaded her to record two albums, but she remained at her new profession. Then, in 1977, her employers caught onto the fact that diminutive Nurse Hunter was 82 and insisted that she should retire. Having already lived a remarkably full life she could have been forgiven for calling it a day, but she was a tough and spirited lady. She supplied the score for the film, Remember My Name (1978) and, invited to sing at Barney Josephson's club, The Cookery in Greenwich Village, New York, she was a smash hit and began her singing career all over again. She made numerous club and concert appearances, made more records and appeared on several television shows. Early in her career she sometimes performed and occasionally recorded under different names, including May Alix and Josephine Beaty. She sang with power and conviction, her contralto voice having a distinct but attractive vibrato. Inimitably interpreting every nuance of lyrics, especially when they were her own, she made many fine recordings. Even late in her career, she controlled her audiences with a delicately iron hand, all the while displaying a sparkling wit and a subtle way with a risqué lyric. It is hard to think of any singer who has improved upon her performances of certain songs, notably The Love I Have For You and Someday, Sweetheart.