Abbey Lincoln

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0511085/

Personal Quote:

• Her relationship with Max Roach: It wasn't a dream of mine to be a star, so Max came along at the right time to help save me from myself. Otherwise, I would have become an alcoholic and unhappy.
• [In 1993]: I've done what I please, told people to bug off and exercised my independence.

Trivia:

• She was the 10th of 12 children born in Chicago and raised in rural Michigan.
• She was awarded the Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment of the Arts for her lifetime achievement in jazz music.
• She was raised in Calvin Center, Michigan.
• After a tour of Africa in the mid-1970's, she adopted the name Aminata Moseka.
• Began as a singer in Chicago nightclubs, often using pseudonyms like 'Anna Marie' and 'Gaby Lee'.
• Did her best work with bop musicians in the 1960s, including Thelonious Monk, Mal Waldron and Max Roach (whom she married in 1962).
  

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Lincoln

Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was an American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, who wrote and performed her own compositions. She was a civil rights advocate during the 1960s.

Musician

Lincoln was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday. She often visited the Blue Note jazz club in New York City.[3] Her debut album, Abbey Lincoln’s Affair – A Story of a Girl in Love, was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records. In 1960 she sang on Max Roach's landmark civil rights-themed recording, We Insist! Lincoln’s lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America.[4]

During the 1980s, Lincoln’s creative output was smaller and she released only a few albums during that decade. Her song "For All We Know" is featured in the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy. During the 1990s and until her death, however, she fulfilled a 10-album contract with Verve Records. These albums are highly regarded and represent a crowning achievement in Lincoln’s career. Devil’s Got Your Tongue (1992) featured Rodney Kendrick, Grady Tate, J. J. Johnson, Stanley Turrentine, Babatunde Olatunji and The Staple Singers, among others.[5]

In 2003, Lincoln received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award.[6]

Actress

In 1956 Lincoln appeared in The Girl Can’t Help It, for which she wore a dress that had been worn by Marilyn Monroe in Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953), and interpreted the theme song, working with Benny Carter.[7]

With Ivan Dixon, she co-starred in Nothing But a Man (1964), an independent film written and directed by Michael Roemer. In 1968 she also co-starred with Sidney Poitier and Beau Bridges in For Love of Ivy,[7] and received a 1969 Golden Globe nomination for her appearance in the film. In the 1990 Spike Lee movie Mo’ Better Blues, she played young Bleek Gilliams’ mother.[8]

In 1978, Lincoln appeared in the All in the Family season 9, episode 4, "What'll We Do With Stephanie", playing the part of a social worker visiting the Bunker household.[9]

Personal life

Lincoln was married from 1962 to 1970 to drummer Max Roach, whose daughter from a previous marriage, Maxine, appeared on several of Lincoln’s albums.

Lincoln died on August 14, 2010 in Manhattan, eight days after her 80th birthday.[5] Her death was announced by her brother, David Wooldridge, who told The New York Times that she had died in a Manhattan nursing home after suffering deteriorating health ever since undergoing open-heart surgery in 2007. No cause of death was officially given. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered.[10]

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/abbeylincoln

Lincoln has made a career out of pursuing her art with integrity and raising the bar on matters of the heart. Born Anna Marie Wooldridge in Chicago in 1930, she was the tenth of 12 children. She began singing at a young age and won an amateur contest at 19. Her family life as a youngster continues to be an inspiration. "I'm glad I come from a people," says Lincoln: "My mother was a wise woman who practiced free thought. She had a high estimation of herself as a human being." She continues, "My father was a great man. He built the house we lived in. He midwifed the last six children. He could have been a singer, but he didn't try for a career. He chose to be a family man."

See also

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/arts/music/15lincoln.html?_r=0

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Abbey_Lincoln.aspx

http://jazztimes.com/articles/20621-abbey-lincoln-straight-ahead

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129203432