Adelaide Hall
Encyclopedia
Adelaide Hall was an American
-born U.K.
-based jazz singer and entertainer.
Hall was born in Brooklyn
, New York
and was taught to sing by her father. She began her stage career on Broadway in 1921 in the chorus line of the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, and went on to appear in a number of similar black musical shows, including "Runnin' Wild" on Broadway in 1923, "Chocolate Kiddies" in 1925 (European tour), "My Magnolia" on Broadway in 1926 and in "Desires of 1927" American tour in 1927. At the end 1927 she recorded 'Creole Love Call' and 'The Blues I Love To Sing' with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The recording was a hit and catapulted both Adelaide's and Ellington's careers into the mainstream.
In 1928 she starred on Broadway with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in Blackbirds of 1928
. The show became the most successful all-black show ever staged on Broadway at that time and made Adelaide and Bojangles into household names. It was this revue that made her name, both in the U.S. and in Europe
when the show was taken to Paris
to star at the Moulin Rouge in 1929. Her performances in it included the songs "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby", "Diga Diga Doo", and "I Must Have That Man", which continued to be audience favourites throughout her career.
in 1938 in order to take a starring role in a musical version of Edgar Wallace
's The Sun Never Sets at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
. She was so successful, and became so popular with British audiences, that she stayed, becoming one of the most popular singers and entertainers of the time. She lived in London
from 1938 until her death.
Hall's career was an almost uninterrupted success. She made over seventy records for Decca
, had her own radio series (the first black artist to have a long-term contract with the BBC
), and appeared on the stage, in film
s, and in nightclub
s (of which she owned her own, in New York, London and Paris). In the 1940s, and especially during World War II
, she was hugely popular with both civilian and ENSA
audiences, and became one of the highest paid entertainers in the country (despite the destruction in an air raid of the London nightclub owned by her and her husband, the Florida Club). Hall has a cameo appearance as a singer in the 1940 movie Oscar winning movie The Thief of Bagdad
.
During an extremely long career (since 1991 she has held the world record as the most enduring recording artist), Hall has performed with major artists such as Ethel Waters
, Josephine Baker
, Louis Armstrong
, Lena Horne
, Cab Calloway
, and Jools Holland
, and has recorded as a jazz
singer with Duke Ellington
(with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call
" in 1927), Fats Waller
, and Art Tatum
.
She appeared in the London run of Kiss Me, Kate
, starred with Lena Horne in Jamaica
on Broadway in 1957, and made two jazz recordings with Humphrey Lyttelton
in 1969–1970. This was followed by theatre tours and concert appearances; she sang at Duke Ellington's memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields
in 1974, and presented a one-woman show at Carnegie Hall
in 1988. Her final U.S. concert appearances took place in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, in the "Cabaret Comes to Carnegie" series. She died in 1993, aged 92, at London's Charing Cross Hospital
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-born U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-based jazz singer and entertainer.
Hall was born in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and was taught to sing by her father. She began her stage career on Broadway in 1921 in the chorus line of the Broadway musical Shuffle Along, and went on to appear in a number of similar black musical shows, including "Runnin' Wild" on Broadway in 1923, "Chocolate Kiddies" in 1925 (European tour), "My Magnolia" on Broadway in 1926 and in "Desires of 1927" American tour in 1927. At the end 1927 she recorded 'Creole Love Call' and 'The Blues I Love To Sing' with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The recording was a hit and catapulted both Adelaide's and Ellington's careers into the mainstream.
In 1928 she starred on Broadway with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in Blackbirds of 1928
Blackbirds of 1928
Blackbirds of 1928 was a hit Broadway revue with music by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields. It contained the songs "Diga Diga Do", the duo's first hit, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love", and "I Must Have That Man" all sung by Adelaide Hall....
. The show became the most successful all-black show ever staged on Broadway at that time and made Adelaide and Bojangles into household names. It was this revue that made her name, both in the U.S. and in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
when the show was taken to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
to star at the Moulin Rouge in 1929. Her performances in it included the songs "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby", "Diga Diga Doo", and "I Must Have That Man", which continued to be audience favourites throughout her career.
British career
She married a British sailor, Bert Hicks, and he started a nightclub in Paris, France (La Grosse Pomme) for her. After many years performing in the U.S. and Europe, Hall went to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1938 in order to take a starring role in a musical version of Edgar Wallace
Edgar Wallace
Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace was an English crime writer, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and playwright, who wrote 175 novels, 24 plays, and numerous articles in newspapers and journals....
's The Sun Never Sets at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
. She was so successful, and became so popular with British audiences, that she stayed, becoming one of the most popular singers and entertainers of the time. She lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
from 1938 until her death.
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, had her own radio series (the first black artist to have a long-term contract with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
), and appeared on the stage, in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, and in nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
s (of which she owned her own, in New York, London and Paris). In the 1940s, and especially during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, she was hugely popular with both civilian and ENSA
Entertainments National Service Association
The Entertainments National Service Association or ENSA was an organisation set up in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes...
audiences, and became one of the highest paid entertainers in the country (despite the destruction in an air raid of the London nightclub owned by her and her husband, the Florida Club). Hall has a cameo appearance as a singer in the 1940 movie Oscar winning movie The Thief of Bagdad
The Thief of Bagdad (1940 film)
The Thief of Bagdad is a 1940 British fantasy film produced by Alexander Korda, and directed by Michael Powell, Ludwig Berger, and Tim Whelan, with contributions by Korda's brothers Vincent and Zoltán, and William Cameron Menzies...
.
During an extremely long career (since 1991 she has held the world record as the most enduring recording artist), Hall has performed with major artists such as Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues, jazz and gospel vocalist and actress. She frequently performed jazz, big band, and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues.Her best-known recordings includes, "Dinah", "Birmingham Bertha",...
, Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker was an American dancer, singer, and actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France. She was given such nicknames as the "Bronze Venus", the "Black Pearl", and the "Créole Goddess"....
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
, Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
, and Jools Holland
Jools Holland
Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer, and television presenter. He was a founder of the band Squeeze and his work has involved him with many artists including Sting, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, The Who, David Gilmour and Bono.Holland is a...
, and has recorded as a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
(with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call
Creole Love Call
"Creole Love Call" is a jazz standard, most associated with the Duke Ellington band.Ellington first recorded it in 1927 and was issued a copyright for it as composer the following year. However the main melody appears earlier in the Joe "King" Oliver composition "Camp Meeting Blues" which Oliver...
" in 1927), Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
, and Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
.
She appeared in the London run of Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate is a musical with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It is structured as a play within a play, where the interior play is a musical version of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The original production starred Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Lisa Kirk and Harold Lang.Kiss...
, starred with Lena Horne in Jamaica
Jamaica (musical)
Jamaica is a musical with a book by Yip Harburg and Fred Saidy, lyrics by Harburg, and music by Harold Arlen. Harburg was blacklisted in Hollywood at the time of the writing of the musical...
on Broadway in 1957, and made two jazz recordings with Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
in 1969–1970. This was followed by theatre tours and concert appearances; she sang at Duke Ellington's memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields
St Martin-in-the-Fields is an Anglican church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Its patron is Saint Martin of Tours.-Roman era:Excavations at the site in 2006 led to the discovery of a grave dated about 410...
in 1974, and presented a one-woman show at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in 1988. Her final U.S. concert appearances took place in 1992 at Carnegie Hall, in the "Cabaret Comes to Carnegie" series. She died in 1993, aged 92, at London's Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital
Charing Cross Hospital is a general, acute hospital located in London, United Kingdom and established in 1818. It is located several miles to the west of the city centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham....
.
Sources
- Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3
- Iain Cameron Williams. 'Underneath a Harlem Moon ... the Harlem to Paris years of Adelaide Hall. ISBN 0-8264-5893-9