Elisabeth Welch

Description

"From her stage debut in 1922 to her final professional appearance in 1996, Elisabeth Welch was an important figure in the world of popular song. In 1923 she launched the Charleston, and throughout the Jazz Age she was associated with some of the great names of the Harlem Renaissance, including Josephine Baker, Adelaide Hall, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, and Ethel Waters. On Broadway she popularized Cole Porter's scandalous "Love for Sale," and in 1933 she introduced "Stormy Weather" to British audiences. That same year she began a career in English musical theatre (Cole Porter's Nymph Errant) that lasted sixty years."

"In 1930s Britain, Ivor Novello wrote songs for her, Paul Robeson was her leading man in films, and she enjoyed popularity as a cabaret star of London's cafe society. In the postwar years, she reigned supreme in sophisticated revues in London's West End. At the age of 81, she returned to the Broadway stage, and her performance of Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood earned her a Tony nomination." "In Elisabeth Welch: Soft Lights and Sweet Music, Stephen Bourne celebrates the stage, screen, and radio career of this African American actress and singer, who always defied categorization. She did not fit the definition of jazz, pop, or ballad singer but defined her art quite simply as "telling a story in song.""--Jacket.