Ethyl Waters in the 1929 movie “On With the Show.” She sang “Am I Blue” in that movie. Paul Goldfinger photograph © from the Ken Burns documentary Jazz. Click to enlarge.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor at Blogfinger.net.
Ethyl Waters began her career as a singer and actress in the 1920’s. She was known as a blues singer, but later she appeared in films and on Broadway. At one point she was the highest paid female performer in America.
Ethyl Waters was born in Pennsylvania, and she had a hard life. She was married at age 12. Irving Berlin discovered her for one of his films.
ETHYL WATERS:
Jazz Greats is a new series on Blogfinger based on the Ken Burns documentary “Jazz.” Ethyl Waters emerged on the scene in the 1920’s when the blues were being discovered by whites. She remained popular through the Great Depression on into the 1950’s.