Great Ladies of Jazz Trivia Quiz

Answer: Billie Holiday

She was called "Lady Day", and she always performed with a gardenia in her hair. Billie Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan in Baltimore, Maryland in 1915. She died on July 17, 1959, chained to a hospital bed, under arrest for drug possession. She was 44 years old.

By all accounts Billie Holiday had an horrendous childhood and adolescence. She was singing for tips in a Harlem nightclub when she was discovered by record producer John Hammond, and was given a job singing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra. She went on to record and to perform until her death. Billie Holiday lived a hard life and died broke, but thankfully her recordings are still with us. "Crazy He Calls Me", "You Go to My Head", "God Bless the Child" and the haunting "Strange Fruit" are among her best.

Answer: Dinah Washington

Dinah Washington was born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama in 1924. She began as a gospel singer, and then was hired to perform with Lionel Hampton's band. After a few years with Hampton, she went on to record as a soloist, and could sing in any genre--jazz, rhythm and blues, jazz or pop.
"Black and Blue", "Blue Gardenia", and "Trouble in Mind" are a few of her many classic recordings.

Washington led an interesting life. She married seven times, was never seen without one of her trademark mink coats, and was thought to pack a couple of pistols at all times. She died at the very young age of 39, from an apparent lethal mix of diet pills and alcohol.

Answer: Rosemary Clooney

Rosemary Clooney was born in Kentucky in 1928. She grew up in poverty; her mother left Rosemary and her sister Betty in the care of her alcoholic father, who later abandoned the girls as well. They auditioned as singers for a local radio station, and did so well they won a spot on a radio show. They soon joined up with the Tony Pastor Orchestra; eventually Rosemary struck out on her own. She was given a contract with Columbia Records, and made many hit records during her long career.

As with many women singers of that era, Clooney's life had a dark side. She suffered from bi-polar disorder and drug and alcohol problems. She was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when her good friend, Senator Robert Kennedy, was assassinated in 1968. She fell into a deep depression after that tragedy, and suffered a breakdown while performing in Reno, Nevada. She would recover and continue to perform and record until she fell ill with cancer. She was 74 when she died.

Answer: Sarah Vaughn

Sarah Vaughn was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1924. She was musically inclined since very young, and began performing in night clubs while she was still in her teens. After appearing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, Vaughn signed on with Earl "Fatha" Hines band. While she was with Hines she met up with many of that era's top jazz artists: Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, just to name a few.

She went on to a solo career as a nightclub singer and recording artist. Some of her best-known recordings include "Everything I Have is Yours", "Body and Soul", "I've Got a Crush on You" and "Don't Blame Me". She was a star for many years, recognized as one of the top jazz vocalists. She was inducted into both the American Jazz Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Sarah Vaughn married (and divorced) three times and adopted one daughter. She died of lung cancer at the age of 66.

Answer: Lena Horne

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1917, and grew up in an upper middle class African-American community.

She joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club at age 16, then went on to work and tour first with the Noble Sissle Orchestra, then joined Charlie Barnet's band. She recorded with such jazz greats as Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, and Billy Eckstine. In the early 1940s she began to appear in films. Her scenes were almost always musical numbers that could be edited out when the film was shown in the South. She had her heart set on playing the role of Julie in the 1951 version of "Showboat", a part that went to Ava Gardner instead. Sick of Hollywood, she concentrated on her singing career, performing in nightclubs and recording. Lena Horne was a passionate crusader for civil rights, working for that cause since the early 1940s.

In 1981, she opened at the Nederlander Theatre in New York City, in a one-woman show. The show was an huge success and ran for 333 performances. She toured the world with the show afterward, and was awarded a special Tony award for her performance.

Answer: Annie Ross

Annie Ross was born in England, and raised in California by her aunt, the singer Ella Logan. She has been in the entertainment business all her life, beginning as a child actress. Ross is a pioneer of "vocalese", in which lyrics are set to instrumental jazz music. She has recorded with all the greats, including the Modern Jazz Quartet, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker.

Ross recorded seven innovative albums with the trio Lambert, Hendricks and Ross from 1957-1962. "Sing A Song Of Basie" was their first album, a big hit that shot the trio to stardom in the world of jazz. They recorded several more in the next five years, including the classic albums "Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross!" and "High Flying". Annie Ross left the trio in 1962 to perform on her own, and to open Annie's Room, a nightclub in London,

Annie Ross has appeared in quite a few films, including Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" in 1993 and Tony Richardson's "Blue Sky" in 1994. She is still appearing in nightclubs, singing in her unique style.

Answer: Anita O'Day

Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago in 1919, she left her parent's home when she was very young, to compete in the dance marathons so popular during the Great Depression. She also sang, and while performing in nightclubs, she met her first husband, a drummer. She met bandleader Gene Krupa through him, and landed a job with Krupa's band. She began recording soon after. Some of her classic recordings are her versions of "Sweet Georgia Brown", "Honeysuckle Rose", and "How High the Moon". Despite her problems with drugs, which included several arrests and some time in jail, she continued to sing and record till her death, at the ripe age of 87.

In the excellent documentary film "Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer" she spoke frankly about her life, her addiction to heroin, her two marriages, with no regrets.

Answer: Cleo Laine

Dame Cleo Laine was born Clementina Dinah Campbell in London in 1927. She began her singing career while in her twenties, when she met musician John Dankworth. She joined his band and the couple married in 1958. She has made many recordings with Dankworth, as well as with other well-known musicians.

Laine is an actress as well as singer, appearing on stage and in films. She was a sensation when she finally began to tour, including very well-received concerts in Australia, Canada and the United States. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1979, for her contributions to music.

Answer: Peggy Lee

Miss Peggy Lee was born Norma Egstrom in North Dakota in 1920. Her mother died when she was four, leaving eight children. Her father remarried, and her stepmother was abusive to her. Peggy Lee left home when she was 17. She had already begun to sing on the radio, at a small station in Fargo, North Dakota.

While working at a nightclub in Chicago, Peggy was noticed by bandleader Benny Goodman, who ended up hiring her as the "girl singer" for his band. After two years, Peggy Lee left the band and began recording. An early hit was 1943's "Why Don't You Do Right?", which sold over a million copies. She was on her way to stardom. During her years at Capitol Records, she recorded such classics as "Maņana", "Fever", "It's a Good Day", and many others. She was a songwriter as well as a singer, collaborating with such legends as Quincy Jones, Laurindo Almeida and Duke Ellington.

She appeared on television and in films as well, and earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1955 film "Pete Kelly's Blues". Her career spanned several decades, and she is considered to be a superlative jazz and pop artist. She suffered poor health for several years before her death at 84.

Answer: Ella Fitzgerald

She was certainly one of the top jazz vocalists of all time, and was often called "The First Lady of Song". During a career that spanned almost sixty years, she won 13 Grammy Awards, and was the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Medal of Art.

She was another songbird who came from a difficult childhood. During her teen years she worked as a numbers runner and as a brothel lookout. She had some problems with the police, even spent time in a reform school. But her singing talent saved her. Like many artists of the early jazz era, she got her break at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She was hired to sing with Chick Webb's band, and also began recording. One of her best-known hits was from that time, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", co-written by Ella herself.

Upon leaving the Chick Webb Band, she worked with jazz impresario Norman Granz, who became her manager. As bebop became popular, Ella began to include scat singing in her performances. She recorded some legendary music during this period. "How High the Moon" "Oh Lady Be Good" and "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" are a few of her classic recordings. She sang ballads, swing, pop and jazz, superb in every genre.

Ella Fitzgerald collaborated with all the great jazz musicians and singers during her long career, from Duke Ellington to Quincy Jones. She passed away in 1996 at age 79.