Ivie Anderson


Ivie Anderson was an American jazz singer. Anderson was a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra for more than a decade.

Personal life

Ivie Anderson was born July 10, 1905, in Gilroy, California. Although her mother's name is unknown, her father was Jobe Smith. From 1914 to 1918, Anderson attended St. Mary's Convent and studied voice. At Gilroy grammar school and Gilroy High School, she joined glee club and choral society. She also studied voice under Sara Ritt while in Nannie H. Burroughs Institution in Washington, D.C. From 1930 to 1945, Anderson lived at 724 East 52nd Place in Los Angeles, part of the 52nd Place Historic District.

Career

Anderson's singing career began around 1921 with performances in Los Angeles. In 1924, she toured with the musical Shuffle Along. By 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 appearance on record, "It Don't Mean a Thing ", recorded in 1932, was a hit. She participated in Ellington's first European tour in 1933. In 1940, she recorded "Solitude", "Mood Indigo", and "Stormy Weather". 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 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 had a second marriage with Walter Collins. Anderson died in Los Angeles in December, 1949 of an asthma-related illness. Although her earliest obituary was dated December 27, 1949, later sources state her date of death as December 28, 1949.

Comments about Ivie Anderson

Anderson often received prominent billing on advertisements for Ellington's appearances in theatres, auditoriums, arenas, and ballrooms, wherever the Ellington band toured in the 1930s. She sang pop tunes and ballads and was the band's scat singer, imitating instrumental sounds and vocalizations. 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 with Anderson in mind.
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."

Discography

;1932
  • "It Don't Mean a Thing " February 2, 1932
  • "Delta Bound" December 21, 1932
;1933
  • "I've Got the World on a String" February 15, 1933
  • "Happy as the Day is Long" May 9, 1933
  • "Raisin' the Rent" May 9, 1933
  • "Get Yourself a New Broom " May 9, 1933
  • "Stormy Weather" May 16, 1933
  • "I'm Satisfied" August 15, 1933
;1934
  • "Ebony Rhapsody" April 12, 1934
  • "Troubled Waters" May 9, 1934
  • "My Old Flame" May 9, 1934
;1935
  • "Let's Have a Jubilee" January 9, 1935
  • "Cotton" August 19, 1935
  • "Truckin'" August 19, 1935
;1936
  • "Dinah Lou" January 20, 1936
  • "Isn't Love the Strangest Thing?" February 27, 1936
  • "Love is Like a Cigarette" February 28, 1936
  • "Kissin' My Baby Good-Night" February 28, 1936
  • "Oh, Babe! Maybe Someday" February 28, 1936
  • "Shoe Shine Boy" July 17, 1936
  • "It Was a Sad Night in Harlem" July 17, 1936
;1937
  • "I've Got To Be a Rug Cutter" March 5, 1937
  • "My Honey's Lovin' Arms" March 25, 1937
  • "Did Anyone Ever Tell You?" March 25, 1937
  • "Where Are You?" March 25, 1937
  • "There's a Lull in My Life" April 9, 1937
  • "It's Swell of You" April 9, 1937
  • "Old Plantation" April 22, 1937
  • "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" June 8, 1937
  • "Alabamy Home" June 8, 1937
;1938
  • "If You Were in My Place " February 24, 1938
  • "Scrounch" February 24, 1938
  • "Carnival in Caroline" March 3, 1938
  • "Swingtime in Honolulu" April 11, 1938
  • "You Gave Me the Gate " June 7, 1938
  • "Rose of the Rio Grande" June 7, 1938
  • "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" June 7, 1938
  • "Watermelon Man" June 20, 1938
  • "La De Doody Do" June 20, 1938
;1939
  • "In a Mizz" June 12, 1939
  • "I'm Checkin' Out – Go'om Bye" June 12, 1939
  • "A Lonely Co-Ed" June 12, 1939
  • "You Can Count On Me" June 12, 1939
  • "Killin' Myself" October 16, 1939
  • "Your Love Has Faded" October 16, 1939
;1940
  • "Solitude" February 14, 1940
  • "Stormy Weather" February 14, 1940
  • "Mood Indigo" February 14, 1940
  • "So Far, So Good" March 6, 1940
  • "Me and You" March 15, 1940
  • "At a Dixie Roadside Diner" July 22, 1940
  • "Five O'clock Whistle" September 15, 1940
;1941
  • "Chocolate Shake" June 26, 1941
  • "I Got It Bad " June 26, 1941
  • "Jump for Joy" July 2, 1941
  • "Rocks in My Bed" September 26, 1941
;1942
  • "I Don't Mind" February 26, 1942
  • "Hayfoot, Strawfoot" July 28, 1942
;1944
  • "Mexico Joe " February 1944
  • "Play Me the Blues" February 1944
;1946
  • "I Got It Bad " January 1946
  • "On the Sunny Side of the Street" January 1946
  • "I Thought You Ought to Know" January 1946
  • "The Voot is Here to Stay" January 1946
  • "He's Tall, Dark & Handsome" October 1946
  • "Twice Too Many" October 1946
  • "Big Butter and Egg Man" October 1946
  • "Empty Bed Blues" October 1946

    Compilations

  • Duke Ellington Presents Ivie Anderson 1973
  • An Introduction to Ivie Anderson 1995
  • I Got It Good and That Ain't Bad! With the Duke & Beyond 1999
  • It Don't Mean a Thing 2002
  • The Ivie Anderson Collection 1932–1946 2018

    Appearances on Ellington recordings

  • The Blanton–Webster Band 1990
  • Ellington and His Great Vocalists 1993

    Charting singles