Dinah Washington

Singer

• Born: August 29, 1924
• Birthplace: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• Died: December 14, 1963
• Place of death: Detroit, Michigan

American jazz singer

With her dynamic voice and precise enunciation, Washington sang in a wide variety of styles, moving from jazz and rhythm and blues into the pop mainstream.

The Life

Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in 1924, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, into a family with deep Baptist and gospel roots. Four years later, they moved to Chicago to escape the oppressive segregation of the South. Washington began singing at home, and her mother Asalea encouraged her to sing in the gospel genre. Nevertheless, Washington was hired by bandleader Lionel Hampton to sing with his orchestra. She changed her name for the stage, some say choosing Dinah for the Ethel Waters single of the same name and choosing Washington for the first president of the United States.

At eighteen, when Washington began to work with Hampton, she married and divorced John Young. In the summer of 1945, Washington, who was pregnant, married drummer George Jenkins. She left him after three weeks, and she later gave birth to a son, George Kenneth. Despite her troubled personal life, she continued to record and to perform. At twenty-two, Washington married Robert “Bobby” Grayson, and they had a son, Bobby, Jr. The marriage lasted less than three years. In 1950 Walter Buchanan, a bass player from Arnett Cobb’s orchestra, became Washington’s fourth husband. After three months, they divorced.

Seven years later, Washington married saxophonist Eddie Chamblee, a union that lasted only a few months. While on a trip overseas, she married taxicab driver Horatio “Rusty” Maillard, and when that relationship ended, she married Rafael Campos. Her last husband was Richard “Night Train” Lane. In 1963 Washington overdosed on prescription medication, and she died in her bed at the age of thirty-nine.

The Music

Early Recordings. In 1943 Keynote Records had Washington record several songs, including “Evil Gal Blues,” “Homeward Bound,” “Salty Papa Blues,” and “I Know How to Do It.” The recordings landed on the Billboard Harlem Hit Parade Top 10. After a year touring with Hampton, Washington left the orchestra, and she did more recordings for Decca Records. The label, which specialized in big band music, did not heavily support the jazz singer.

Washington went to Santa Monica, California, where she signed a contract with Apollo Records to do twelve songs with a band called the Lucky Thompson All-Stars. The group included Lucky Thompson on saxophone, Gene Porter on baritone saxophone, Jewel Grant on alto saxophone, Karl George on trumpet, Milt Jackson on vibraharp, Wilbert Baranco on piano, Lee Young (Lester’s younger brother) on drums, and Charles Mingus on bass. She recorded the blues songs “No Voot, No Boot,” “Chewin’ Mama’s Blues,” “My Lovin’ Papa,” “Mellow Mama Blues,” “My Voot Is Really Vout,” and “Blues for a Day.” Soon Washington was back in Chicago, ready to sign a contract with Mercury Records. In January of 1946, Washington worked with Gus Chappell, a trombonist in Chicago, and together they made the memorable “Embraceable You” and “I Can’t Get Started with You.” Blues, Jazz, Pop, and Country. Soon, Washington began to work with producers who understood her abilities. She sang blues, then jazz, then pop. Her popularity grew, and record labels (Apollo, Mercury, EmArcy) began to vie for her attention. In 1951 Washington recorded for Mercury the pop songs “I Wanna Be Loved,” “My Heart Cries for You,” and “I Won’t Cry Anymore,” and they all landed in the Top 5. Washington also recorded in the country genre: a rendition of Hank Williams’s “Cold, Cold Heart.” Approaching thirty years old, Washington and a new producer from Mercury, Hal Mooney, collaborated to release more songs to boost her popularity. “I Don’t Hurt Anymore,” “Dream,” “Soft Winds,” “Teach Me Tonight,” and “If It’s the Last Thing I Do” became hits almost instantly. Washington used these songs to define her own style, moving away from the stylings of other jazz singers (such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan) and pronouncing every syllable clearly and concisely. Quincy Jones helped her on another album, which produced hit songs such as “Blue Gardenia.” Washington demonstrated her ability to work in several genres, releasing blues albums, touring with jazz orchestras, and topping the pop charts.

“What a Diff’rence a Day Makes.”With the release of “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”—an amalgam of blues, pop, and Washington’s signature sound—she became a mainstream success. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance. In 1960 she released another hit, “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes),” under the same producer who made “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes,” Clyde Otis.

The Allegros. The Allegros became Washington’s new backing trio, and in 1962 they helped to define her style with a new record label, Roulette. They contributed to Dinah ’62 (with the popular tracks “Where Are You” and “You’re Nobody ’Til Somebody Loves You”) and four other albums, Drinking Again, In Love, Back to the Blues, and Dinah ’63.

Musical Legacy

Although Washington lived at a time when segregation hampered African Americans, she surmounted racial boundaries to become a success on stage and in recordings. An inspiration to black female artists, she used her dynamic voice, compelling stage presence, and versatility to create a prosperous career in spite of her highly publicized and turbulent personal life. In 1993 the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative first-class stamp bearing the likeness of Washington. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, and in 1984 she was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

Principal Recordings

albums:Evil Gal Blues, 1943; Mellow Mama, 1945; Dinah Washington Songs, 1950; Blazing Ballads, 1952; Dynamic Dinah, 1952; After Hours with Miss D, 1953; Dinah Jams, 1954; Jazz Sides, 1954; For Those in Love, 1955; Dinah!, 1956; In the Land of Hi-Fi, 1956; The Swingin’ Miss D, 1956; Dinah Washington Sings Bessie Smith, 1957; Dinah Washington Sings Fats Waller, 1957; The Fats Waller Songbook, 1957; Music for a First Love, 1957; Music for Late Hours, 1957; The Queen, 1959; Unforgettable, 1959; What a Diff’rence a Day Makes!, 1959; I Concentrate on You, 1960; Two of Us, 1960 (with Brook Benton); For Lonely Lovers, 1961; September in the Rain, 1961; Dinah ’62, 1962; Drinking Again, 1962; In Love, 1962; Tears and Laughter, 1962; Back to the Blues, 1963; Dinah ’63, 1963; The Good Old Days, 1963; In Tribute, 1963; The Late, Late Show, 1963; This Is My Story, 1963; A Stranger on Earth, 1964; Queen and Quincy, 1965 (with Quincy Jones); Dinah Discovered, 1967.

Bibliography

Awkward, Michael. Soul Covers: Rhythm and Blues Remakes and the Struggle for Artistic Identity. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2007. The author looks at the lives of modern artists and their influences. Aretha Franklin honors Washington as a profound influence on her career.

Cohodas, Nadine. Queen: The Life and Music of Dinah Washington. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. This thorough biography of Washington covers the singer’s life, music, and passions.

Haskins, Jim. Queen of the Blues: A Biography of Dinah Washington. New York: William Morrow, 1984. This biography offers a look at the life and career of the talented and complex singer.

Starr, Larry, and Christopher Waterman. American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. This music history highlights the importance of jazz, blues, and pop in a time of racism during the 1960’s, with references to Washington.