Ivie Anderson was an American jazz singer the first permanent singer with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. She was in the band from 1931 until stopped by asthma in 1942. She’s your Phantom Dancer feature artist this week.

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IVIE

When Anderson played in Ellington’s musical Jump for Joy, the California Eagle wrote of her: “Ivie can sing a song so that the audience get every word, and at the same time make cracks at Sonny Greer, tease Duke and wink at the boys in the front row. Wednesday night she went into a dance routine that would have slayed you.”

Ivie Anderson was in her school glee club and choral society and also studied voice under Sara Ritt while in Nannie H. Burroughs Institution in Washington.

Her singing career began around 1921 with performances in Los Angeles.

By 1924, she was touring with the musical Shuffle Along.

In 1925, she had performed in Cuba, the Cotton Club in New York City, and Los Angeles with the bands of Paul Howard, Curtis Mosby, and Sonny Clay.

In 1928, she sang in Australia with Clay’s band and starred in Frank Sebastian’s Cotton Club in Los Angeles in April. Soon after, she began touring in the United States as a solo singer.

From 1930 to early 1931, with pianist Earl Hines’s band, Anderson performed in a 20-week residency at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1931, she became the first full-time vocalist in the Duke Ellington orchestra. Her career for over a decade consisted of touring with Ellington. Her first Ellington record, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”, recorded in 1932, was a hit.

She sang in Ellington’s first European tour in 1933.

One of the rare occasions Anderson sang independently of Ellington in this period was her performance of “All God’s Children Got Rhythm” in the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

In 1940, she recorded “Solitude”, “Mood Indigo”, and “Stormy Weather”.

Anderson often received prominent billing on advertisements for Ellington’s appearances in theatres, auditoriums, arenas, and ballrooms, wherever the Ellington band toured. She sang pop tunes and ballads and was the band’s scat singer, imitating instrumental sounds and vocalisations. She was said to be one of Ellington’s finest and most versatile singers before Swedish vocalist Alice Babs performed with the band. Ellington wrote Music Is My Mistress (1973) with Anderson in mind.

One of the rare occasions Anderson sang independently of Ellington in this period was her performance of “All God’s Children Got Rhythm” in the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937) for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Owing to her chronic asthma, Anderson left Ellington’s band in 1942.

She started the Chicken Shack restaurant in Los Angeles with Marque Neal after they married but sold the business when they divorced. She died of an asthma-related illness aged 45.

17 June PLAY LIST