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Ivie Anderson
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Ivie Anderson was an American jazz singer, born on 10 July 1905 in Gilroy, California. She took singing lessons at a convent school and later in Washington. Her career began around 1921 with performances in Los Angeles. In 1924 she toured with the musical Shuffle Along, and in 1925 she performed in Cuba, at the Cotton Club in New York and in Los Angeles, with the orchestras of Paul Howard and Sonny Clay, among others. In 1928 she sang with Clay's orchestra in Australia.
Music and breakthrough
In 1930 and early 1931 she had a twenty-week residency at the Grand Terrace in Chicago, with Earl Hines's orchestra. In 1931 she became the first regular singer with Duke Ellington's orchestra. For more than ten years she travelled with him. Her first recording there was It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing). She also sang in Ellington's musical Jump for Joy. Because of chronic asthma she left the orchestra in 1942. After that she started the restaurant Chicken Shack in Los Angeles. She died in December 1949 of an asthma-related illness.
Influence
Anderson sang pop songs and ballads and was the band's scat singer, imitating instruments and sounds. She often appeared in large type on Ellington's posters in the 1930s. A newspaper wrote that she could sing a song so that the audience understood every word, while at the same time joking with the drummer. She was regarded as one of Ellington's best and most versatile singers for the later years.
Listening
Discography
Studio albums
- 1955A Foggy Day With Carmen McRae
- 1999I Got It Good and That Ain't Bad
- 2001I've Got the World on a String
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- After Hours: Session 1NL Reader