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Sarah Vaughan
Edit- Lifespan:
- March 27, 1924 - April 3, 1990, she died aged 66 and was American.
- Birthname:
- Sarah Lois Vaughan.
- Snapshot:
- An artist with 255 releases, and credited 3 times on others' music. 22 collaborations.
Biography
EditSarah 'Sassy' Vaughn was one of the most respected female jazz singers of the 20th Century. She certainly had the tools - effortless vibrato, broad range, matchless phrasing, imaginative solo technique - to match any instrumentalist.
As a child she sang in the church choir and played the piano. She loved music, particularly the popular music she heard around her. By her mid teens she was performing in local nightclubs and eventually dropped out of high school to pursue a singing career.
After a successful performance at the Apollo Theatre she was engaged to open for Ella Fitzgerald, and on the basis of that she was hired by Earl Hines to be a singer with his band. In 1944 she left Hines to sing with Billy Eckstine's band and this afforded her the opportunity to record her first single "I'll wait and Pray". Although she left the Eckstine band later that year she continued to sing and record with him throughout her life.
Her solo career began in 1945 when she began to release some of her records. In 1947 she married her manager, trumpeter George Treadwell. By the late 1940s and early 1950s her fame and critical acclaim was growing. From the mid 50s she was rubbing shoulders with the most renowned jazz musicians of the day, but her marriage failed. Despite wonderful record sales and great success, there didn't appear to be much money left and she walked out of the marriage with only a small sum.
She married again quite quickly, making her new husband, Clyde Atkins her manager, and adopting a daughter Debra Lois in 1961. By 1963, the second marriage was over and she discovered that her husband had squandered her money; she was broke. Towards the end of the 60s, with the public taste for jazz music waning, she was left without a recording contract.
A move to mainstream music beckoned and in 1971 she released A Time In My Life, the first of several popular music recordings. She recorded "Send In The Clowns" during this time and it became her signature tune.
Briefly without a contract she signed to Pablo Records in 77, releasing a further five albums with them. When that contract was over in 1982, she slowed down a little, cherry picking her celebrated performances. She married and divorced for a third time during this period.
She discovered that she had lung cancer in 1989 and by April 1990, she was dead.
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Genres
Traditional Pop, Bebop, Cool Jazz, Jazz,Know Pop?
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