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Not every songwriter could be a George and Ira Gershwin or a Jerome Kern but some of them could knock out a great tune even if it was only once. This is the story of some of them.
Born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, the former Ruth Lee Jones moved with her family to Chicago as a young girl. She considered the Windy City her true home. And it was there in early 1940s that a local nightclub owner provided her first gig - and a new name that she would make famous. By 1959 she had earned a Grammy for her version of the song "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes." In his 2001 biography Q, music legend Quincy Jones vividly describes Washington's style, saying she "could take the melody in her hand, hold it like an egg, crack it open, fry it, let it sizzle, reconstruct it, put the egg back in the box and back in the refrigerator and you would've still understood every single syllable."
A jazz singer who won early acclaim for her interpretations of classic songs, then re-emerged decades later from near-obscurity.
Her final album "Live at Birdland" was released in 2022, 60 years after her debut recording "Out of the Blue".
From 1969 to 1977, she lived near Raleigh, North Carolina, where she worked as a legal secretary and sang occasionally in a local nightclub. She sang in church choirs, then at age 14 began singing with a local big band, making 9 dollars a night.
A jazz singer who won early acclaim for her interpretations of classic songs, then re-emerged decades later from near-obscurity.
Her final album "Live at Birdland" was released in 2022, 60 years after her debut recording "Out of the Blue".
From 1969 to 1977, she lived near Raleigh, North Carolina, where she worked as a legal secretary and sang occasionally in a local nightclub. She sang in church choirs, then at age 14 began singing with a local big band, making 9 dollars a night.