Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American
jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning
singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For
23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio
show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations
Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.Born
Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she was raised Catholic
in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter
and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, she was
exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a
Rock and R&B trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at
Michigan State University before she went to the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With the school's jazz band, she toured
the Soviet Union in 1969.The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil
Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to New York City,
where Cecil played in Horace Silver's band. In the early 1970s,
Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as lead
vocalist. This marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she
performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as
Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Rahsaan
Roland Kirk, Wayne Garfield, and others. She performed at the Monterey
Jazz Festival in 1973. In 1974, her first solo album, entitled Afro
Blue, appeared, and she performed on Broadway in the musical The Wiz.
For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a Tony Award in 1975 as
"Best Featured Actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy
Award for Best Musical Show Album.She subsequently appeared in several
other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musical
Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. The same year saw
her in Lady Day, as Billie Holiday, for which role she was nominated
for the Laurence Olivier Award, as well as recording the song
"Precious Thing" with Ray Charles, featured on her album Victim of
Love.
jazz singer. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning
singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For
23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio
show JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater. She is a United Nations
Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.Born
Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she was raised Catholic
in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter
and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, she was
exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a
Rock and R&B trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at
Michigan State University before she went to the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With the school's jazz band, she toured
the Soviet Union in 1969.The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil
Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to New York City,
where Cecil played in Horace Silver's band. In the early 1970s,
Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as lead
vocalist. This marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she
performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as
Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Rahsaan
Roland Kirk, Wayne Garfield, and others. She performed at the Monterey
Jazz Festival in 1973. In 1974, her first solo album, entitled Afro
Blue, appeared, and she performed on Broadway in the musical The Wiz.
For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a Tony Award in 1975 as
"Best Featured Actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy
Award for Best Musical Show Album.She subsequently appeared in several
other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musical
Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. The same year saw
her in Lady Day, as Billie Holiday, for which role she was nominated
for the Laurence Olivier Award, as well as recording the song
"Precious Thing" with Ray Charles, featured on her album Victim of
Love.
Share this
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
SUBSCRIBE OUR NEWSLETTER
Join us for free and get valuable content delivered right through your inbox.