Dee Dee Bridgewater Biography, Photos and Posters

Dee Dee Bridgewater

Biography

Born: May 27, 1950
City and Country of Origin: Memphis, Tennessee
Music Training: Michigan State University; University of Illinois
Awards:
Top Recordings: Afro Blue, Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver, Dear Ella, Live at Yoshi's, This is New, J'ai Deux Amours
Dee Dee Bridgewater Biography: TWo time Grammy and Tony winner Dee Dee Bridgewater was born Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his play, Denise was exposed to jazz early on. She was a member of a rock and rhythm'n'blues trio singing in clubs in Michigan at age 16.

While attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign she toured the Soviet Union with their jazz band in 1969. The following year she met and married Cecil Bridgewater. The couple settled in New YOrk City where Cecil played in the Horace Silver's band.

Her jazz career began in 1971 when she joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis orchestra as the lead vocalist. In 1974 her first album was released and she appeared in the Broadway musical The Wiz. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch whe won a Tony award in 1975 as "best featured actress." She has since appeared in several other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musical Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. She was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award, that same year, for her role in Lady Day as Billie Holiday.

In the late 80 and early 90s she returned to jazz. She performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990. She released the album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver 4 years later. Her 1997 tribute album Dear Ella won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album Live at Yoshi's was also worth a Grammy nomination. She has also explored on This is New the songs of Kurt Weill, and, on her latest album J'ai Deux Amours, the French Classics.

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