Nickname: The Queen of the Blues
Genre: Jazz / Blues
Most Momorable Recording: "What A Difference A Day Make"
Followers: Jane Monheit, Paula West, Lavelle White, Diana Krall, Hanna Richardson, Flora Purim, Spanky Wilson, Dave Van Ronk, Della Reese, Dakota Staton, Diane Schuur, Esther Phillips, Ruth Brown, Aretha Franklin, Maxine Brown, Patti Austin, Nancy Wilson, and many more.
Known as "The Queen" or "Miss D," vocalist Dinah Washington emerged one of the most versatile cross-over artists of the post World War era. Her gospel-trained voice--noted for its rhythmical precision and tonal clarity--performed blues, jazz, and ballads with equal authority. Arnold Shaw, in his book Honkers and Shouters: Golden Years of Rhythm and Blues, stated "She had a flutelike voice, sinuous, caressing, and penetrating. Master of all devices of the blues and gospel shadings--the bent notes, the broken notes, the slides, the anticipations, and the behind-the-beat notes--she handled them with intensity that came from her early church training." Between 1948 and 1961 Washington made over 400 sides with the Mercury label, recordings that reveal her diversity and popular acclaim. Renown for her offstage brashness and erratic behavior, Washington spent these years struggling to maintain a successful music career while overcoming the affects of numerous marriages and sporadic crash dieting. Until her death in 1963 she toured nationally playing nightclubs and large venues such as Las Vegas and Carnegie Hall--a 20-year career that influenced younger singers from Ruth Brown to Nancy Wilson.
