Famous Jazz Female Performers: Holiday, Fitzgerald, Vaughn, Simone

Growing up, whenever I would listen to or learn about Jazz, I would think that it was a genre of music that was only performed by male musicians. Little did I know that I was completely wrong and misinformed. Yes, there are a lot of great jazz musicians who are men but there are just as many fantastic female performers who made my list of the great women of jazz. Female jazz players can't be neglected. Women have played pretty much every instrument, in each style, during each period of the music's history. Some of these historic women include Billie Holiday, Ella Fitgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Nina Simone and many more.

One of the most memorable female musicians is Billie Holliday. She was an African American jazz vocalist who definitely showed the most expression better than any singer (man or woman) throughout jazz history. She was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 7, 1915. It is said that her birth name was actually Eleanora Fagen. She wanted to use the name Billie from her favorite actresses Billie Dove. According to “usatoday.com”, her dad was believed to be the jazz musician Clarence Holiday. In 1928, she would eventually move to New York City. Later, Billie Holliday got a job singing. Throughout the next couple years, she sang in Harlem clubs. Little did she know that her singing career would take off when Benny Goodman used her on a record called “Your Mother’s Son In Law” in 1933. Her contribution to music was enormous. Her unique sound, influence on the American jazz scene of the 20th century and her performance of her song “Strange Fruit” which reflected the dangerous environment for African Americans. Unfortunately, Holliday was arrested many times for illegal drug use by the mid-1940s. By the 1950s, her voice became drained. Alcohol and Marijuana were the effects of this unfortunate event. Eventually, her voice was deep, grainy and would occasinly crack during performances. Billie Holliday would make her final concert performance on May 25th, 1959. She would die just 2 months later on July 17th, 1959 at the age of 44 from congestion of the lungs complicated by heart failure.

Ella Fitzgerald was thought to be one if not the most popular artist in the United States for 20+ years. She was born in Virginia on April 25th, 1917. Her parents split shortly after her birth. She and her mother Tempie lived with Timpies longtime boyfrind in New York. Throughout her remarkable career, she won 13 Grammy awards and sold roughly 40 million albums. This is because of her remarkable voice.She was able to do amazing things with her voice. She was able to be flexible, change her ranges and more.Her voice was so good that she was able to sing ballads, jazz and even at times was able to imitate every instrument in the orchestra. With her remarkable voice, she was lucky enough to work with a lot of jazz greatest artists from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Nat King Cole and many more. The most impressing thing to me was that she was able to pack the top venues with and audience that was diverse as her vocal range. The audience included people who were rich, poor, different races and religions and all nationalities. Her contribution to jazz music was very much noticed. Ella alsowas concerend about child welfare. Unfforeteetly, this part of her life was not seen by the public's eye. She donated to different institutions which included disadvantaged youths. In September of 1986, Ella underwent quintuple coronary bypass surgery and was diabeie which doctors blamed for her failing eyesight. Her final concert was in 1991 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. On June 15th, 1996 Ella Fitzgerald died in her Beverly Hills home. She was such an impact on the world that hours after her death signs of remembrance began to appear all over the world.

Sarah Vaugh is another female artist that will always be remembered. She was born in Newark, New Jersey on March 27th,1924. Her parents were musicians who encouraged her to study the piano and organ. Her voice alone got her a soloist job at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Her singing career took off after she won a talent competition in 1942. She would eventually work with bandleaders Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine before she became a successful solo performer singing pop and jazz songs. Working with Eckstine at the time was trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker who would introduce the group to the jazz form called bebop. This caused Vaughn to bring bebop into her own singing which is heard in “Lover Man” recorded in 1945. Once Vaugh became a solo artist, she produced more pop music but when she joined the Mercury Records label she brought back jazz music. She sang hits like “Whatever Lola Wants” (1955), “Misty” (1957) and “Broken-Hearted Melody” (1959) which would sell more than a million copies. When the 1950s came around the shifting musical taste meant Vaughn would no longer produce big hits. This did not impact her popularity as she would still remain a popular performer when she sang live. While performing, her emotion, vibrato rich delivery, three-octave vocal range, and scat technique were even more appealing. Due to her smoking habits, her voice would get deeper which did not impact the quality of her singing as heard in “Send in the Clowns” (1987). She would eventually win her first grammy thanks to her work on Gershwin Live! (1982). Her final concert was held at New York’s Blue Note Club in 1989. She would sadly pass away from lung cancer on April 3rd,1990 at 66 years old. Throughout her career she was recognized as a gifted singer and performer. She was so talented that she was invited to perform at venues like the White House and Carnegie Hall. She would win a lifetime achievement Grammy in 1989 and according to the “Grammy Academy,” it is said that she was nominated for 9 Grammys total. Vaugh was selected to join the Jazz Hall of Fame in 1990 along with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Nina Simone was hands down one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation. She was a singer, pianist, and songwriter. She would swing back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music. In all of ther music she was able to mix in passion, emotional honesty and a great grasp of technique which really controlled her career. Nina was born in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21,1933. At birth, her given name was Eunice Kathleen Waymon. When she was only 3 years okd she displayed a musical talent when she started picking up tunes off her family's piano. This talent landed her a job playing piano at the Midtown Bar & Grill in New Jersey in 1954. Funny enough she was told to sing with the piano even though she had no experience singing at all. She faked it well enough to get the job. That’s where her stage name Nina Simone came from. Within a few years, Simone was a headliner at nightclubs all along the East Coast. In 1957 she caught the attention of Syd Nathan (owner of influential blues and country label king records). Nathan would offer Simone a contract with his jazz subsidiary, Bethlehem Records. Simone's reputation as a powerful live performer had only grown over time. According to Henrietta Cast (writter for greatblackheros.com), she said “she was a key performer at the Selma to Montgomery Marches and engaging in an aggressive, yet empowering dialogue which encouraged militant action to form a separate state, contrary to the language of Martin Luther King”. There is absolutely no doubt that without Nina Simone, Sarah Vaugh and Billi Holliday the genre of Jazz music would not have been the same as it is today. Each of these women had their own unique impact on Jazz and have changed this genre for the better. The impact and influence they have left on many current artists have made jazz what it is today and I can only see Jazz keep getting better and better. I can not imagine what jazz would be like if these women step their foot in and impact it in their own ways.