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Famous Like Me > Composer > H > Alberta Hunter

Profile of Alberta Hunter on Famous Like Me

 
Name: Alberta Hunter  
   
Also Know As:
   
Date of Birth: 1st April 1895
   
Place of Birth: Memphis, Tennessee, USA
   
Profession: Composer
 
 
From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia

Alberta Hunter (April 1, 1895 - October 17, 1984), was a celebrated African-American jazz singer, songwriter and nurse.

Born in Memphis, she left home while still in her early teens and settled in Chicago. There, she peeled potatoes by day and hounded club owners by night, determined to land a singing job. Her persistence paid off and Alberta soon began a climb through some of the city's lowest dives to a headlining job at its most elegant night spot, the Dreamland Café.

After the death of her mother and career frustrations in the 1950s, Alberta abandoned the music industry, prudently reduced her age, "invented" a high school diploma, and enrolled in nursing school. She was working at New York's Goldwater Memorial Hospital in 1961 when record producer Chris Albertson asked her to break an 11-year absence from the recording studio. The result was her participation (four songs) on a Prestige Bluesville album entitled "Songs We Taught Your Mother." The following month, Albertson recorded her again, this time for the Riverside label, reuniting her with Lil Armstrong and Lovie Austin. Ms. Hunter enjoyed these outings, but had no plans to return to singing. She was prepared to devote the rest of her life to to nursing, but the hospital retired her in 1977, when they believed her to have reached retirement age. Having given a wrong age, Alberta was, in fact, way past the age of retirement. In 1978 Alberta Hunter recorded an album entitled "The Amtrak Blues" at the age of 83. She continued to perform up until her death on October 17th 1984. Alberta Hunter was 89 years old.

Bored by inactivity, Alberta now felt a need to resume her singing career, so she accepted a brief booking at The Cookery, a small Greenwich Village establishment owned by veteran restaurateur Barney Josephson. To everybody's surprise, people started flocking into The Cookery as never before, so the two-week booking became permanent. Alberta Hunter became a star all over again. Columbia Records signed her to a contract, director Robert Altman commissioned her to write music for a film, "Remember My Name," and concert offers came from Brazil to Berlin. There was also an invitation for her to sing at the Carter White House, and she was visited by Jackie Onassis who wanted to sign her up for an autobiography. Alberta Hunter took it all in stride, she toured in Europe and South America, made television appearances, and continued a recording career that had started on the Black Star label in 1921.

Her life and career is depicted in the biographical musical, Cookin' in the Cookery.

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Alberta Hunter