Dinah Washington is tagged as: jazz, female vocalists, blues, jazz vocal, vocal jazz Dinah Washington (August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American blues, jazz, and gospel singer. Because of her strong voice and emotional singing, she is known as the “Queen of the Blues” until the success of Koko Taylor in late 1960s. Washington was born Ruth Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As she was growing up in Chicago, she played piano and directed her church choir. Later, she studied in Walter Dyett’s renowned music program at DuSable High School. For a while, she split her time between performing in clubs as Dinah Washington while singing and playing piano in Salle Martin’s gospel choir as Ruth Jones. Her penetrating voice, excellent timing, and crystal-clear enunciation added her own distinctive style to every piece she undertook. While making extraordinary recordings in jazz, blues, R&B and light pop contexts, Washington refused to record gospel music despite her obvious talent in singing it—-she believed it wrong to mix the secular and spiritual. Washington began performing in 1942 and soon joined Lionel Hampton’s band. In 1943, she began recording for Keynote Records and released “Evil Gal Blues”, her first hit. By 1955, she had released numerous hit songs on the R&B charts, including “Baby,... Read More About Dinah Washington Biography... Send Dinah Washington ringtones to your cell |
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