Fembio Special: Black History
Dinah Washington
(Ruth Lee Jones [real name])
born on August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States
died on December 14, 1963 in Detroit, Michigan, United States
US-American jazz singer
100th birthday on August 29, 2024
Biography
“The Queen of Blues” was born in Tuscaloosa in 1924. When she was three years old, the family moved to Chicago, where she grew up in poverty. Her father was often absent and her mother worked as a maid and struggled to support the family. Ruth Lee Jones was introduced to music by her mother, took music lessons at St. Luke's Baptist Church and began singing gospel songs.
At the age of eleven she was already playing the piano and performing in other churches together with her mother. At 15, she won a competition and a year later she joined the Sallie Martin Singers, with whom she went on tour in the South and Midwest. Not wanting to limit herself to gospel music, Ruth Lee Jones took to the blues. She changed her name to Dinah Washington.
She was successful, fun-loving and eccentric - and always in search of “the right man.” Dinah Washington was married seven, eight or nine times - the exact number is unknown - and had two sons. Refusing to be told how to lead her life, she lived at odds with the social norms of the 1950s. The lifestyle she chose took its toll: she was apparently addicted to pills and alcohol (“Dinah had a pill for everything and anything”). As a singer Dinah Washington had additional time on her hands and so she opened a restaurant in Detroit, founded a charity organization (The Ballantine Belles) and started a concert agency that included Sammy Davis Jr., Muhammed Ali and Aretha Franklin among its clients.
The Queen of Blues made her own decisions when it came to music, and thus she also became successful in pop music. Both Nina Simone and Esther Phillis, who made a comeback with Dinah's song “What a difference a day makes,” were influenced by Dinah Washington.
Although otherwise unconventional, she was unable to break away from the lethal ideal of beauty; for over twenty years, she had swallowed slimming tablets and had dieted in countless attempts to lose weight. Her body could not withstand the strain. Dinah Washington died in 1963 at the age of 39 from a prescription drug overdose and alcohol poisoning.
(Text from 1988; translated with DeepL.com and edited by Ramona Fararo, 2024.
Please consult the German version for additional information, pictures, sources, videos, and bibliography.)
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