Ethel Waters - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

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Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an Oscar-nominated American blues vocalist and actress. She was the second African American to ever be nominated for an Academy Award.

Waters frequently performed jazz, big band, gospel, and popular music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts. Her best-known recording was her version of the spiritual song "His Eye is on the Sparrow".

Early life

Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, born to a thirteen-year-old mother who had been raped. She was raised in a violent, impoverished Philadelphia ward. Even though she was eventually adopted by her grandmother, she never lived in the same place for more than 15 months.

Career

and his band, in the film Stage Door Canteen (1943)]]

Waters obtained her first Harlem club job around 1919 at Edmond's Cellar, a club that had a black patronage. Along with Fletcher Henderson, with the sponsorship of Black Swan Records, she toured with the Black Swan Dance Masters. Waters commented that Henderson tended to perform in a more classical style than she would prefer, often lacking "the damn-it-to-hell bass". According to Waters, she influenced him to practice in a "real jazz" style. She recorded for Columbia Records in 1925; this recording was given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.

During the 1920s, she performed and/or was recorded with the ensembles of Will Marion Cook, Lovie Austin. As her career continued, she evolved toward being a blues and Broadway singer performing with artists such as Duke Ellington.

She had the starring role as Petunia in 1943's Cabin in the Sky, the first "all-Black" Hollywood musical, directed by Vincente Minnelli. She was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award in 1949 for the film Pinky. In 1950, she won the New York Drama Critics Award for her performance opposite Julie Harris in the play The Member of the Wedding. [[Image:CountBasieEthelWatersStageDoorCanteen2.jpg|left|thumb|220px|Waters with Count Basie

In 1950, Waters starred in the TV series Beulah but quit after complaining that the scripts were portraying African-Americans as "degrading". Waters worked only sporadically in following years.

Death

She died in 1977 at the age of 80. The cause of death was heart disease. Waters had been staying in a Chatsworth, California home of a young couple caring for her, and died at their home.

Recognition and other achievements

Waters wrote and published two autobiographies, His Eye Is on the Sparrow (1950) and To Me It's Wonderful (1972).
She was posthumously recognized in 1984 by the Gospel Music Association where her name was placed in its Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Lena Horne was quoted as saying Ethel Waters "was the mother of us all" referring to the lineage of female jazz singers.

Private life

Ethel Waters is the great-aunt of Dance music artist Crystal Waters.
In the period before her death at age 80 in Los Angeles, California, she toured with The Reverend Billy Graham, despite the fact that she was a Catholic and he was a Protestant.

Awards and recognitions

Academy Award, Best Supporting Actress nomination in 1949
Gospel Music Hall of Fame, 1984
Grammy Hall of Fame Award, 1998

References

Southern, Eileen. The Music of Black Americans: A History. W. W. Norton & Company; 3rd edition. ISBN 0-393-97141-4
Alexander, Scott. The Red Hot Jazz Archives: Ethel Waters.