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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZHUNTER, Alberta(b 1 April 1895, Memphis TN; d 18 October 1984, NYC) Singer. Also worked under names May Alix (not the May Alix who recorded with Louis Armstrong), Helen Roberts, Josephine Beatty. She was the daughter of a railway porter and a chambermaid asnd sang in school as a child; to Chicago '07, where she worked in and out of music, then got more club dates with Tony Jackson, King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Armstrong etc. She began recording on Black Swan in NYC with Fletcher Henderson's Novelty Orchestra '23, replaced Bessie Smith in NYC show How Come same year. Paramount records '23-4 were all with Henderson; with the Red Onion Jazz Babies (with Armstrong, as Beatty) on Gennett '24, also with Armstrong on OKeh '26; with Perry Bradford, Original Memphis 5, Fats Waller '27 ('Beale Street Blues', 'Sugar', 'I'm Goin' To See My Ma' with Waller on pipe organ are among the most charming records of the era, once on a French RCA LP). She played London and Nice '27, London Palladium '28, with Paul Robeson in Showboat at the Drury Lane Theatre in London '28-9. After Paris dates '29 she returned to NYC; in shows Change Your Luck, Cherry Lane Follies, Thanksgiving Revels '30, Four Star Revue '32, Struttin' Time '33. Back in Europe she replaced Josephine Baker at Casino de Paris '34-5; she appeared in UK film Radio Parade Of 1935. Records in London '34 included 'Miss Otis Regrets', 'Stars Fell On Alabama', 'Two Cigarettes In The Dark' and more (compiled on The Legendary Alberta Hunter: The London Sessions 1934 on DRG). She worked with Armstrong at Connie's Inn NYC '36; toured Greece, Turkey, Middle East '36-8; had her own radio show NYC '38-40; with Ethel Waters in Mamba's Daughters '39, then toured with it. She recorded with Charlie Shavers on Decca '39, Eddie Heywood on Bluebird '40; entertained troops with USO during WWII; understudy to Eartha Kitt in Mrs Patterson '54-5; own show Debut '56; then quit music and became a nurse, telling hospital colleagues nothing about her show-business background. She returned to music on albums with Buster Bailey's Blues Busters for Prestige/Bluesville, Alberta Hunter With Lovie Austin And Her Blues Serenaders on Riverside, both '61, with Jimmy Archey on Folkways '62; Songs We Taught Your Mother on Fantasy with Lucille Hegamin and Victoria Spivey; Amtrak Blues on Columbia. Club and TV work through the '70s included commercials for Clairol and the Newport Jazz Festival, remarkable recordings for the soundtrack of Geraldine Chaplin film Remember My Name, all '78. Compilations Young Alberta Hunter ('21-9) and Classic: The Thirties on Stash; Young Alberta Hunter on Mojo/City Hall included Waller, Henderson, Red Onion Jazz Babies etc. She was a letter writer and saved some of the letters, put to good use in biography Alberta Hunter: A Celebration In Blues '87 by Frank C. Taylor with Gerald Cook, her accompanist. |