Adelaide Hall Informations

Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her long career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death and she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hall entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world's most enduring recording artist having released material over eight consecutive decades. She performed with major artists such as Art Tatum,Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fela Sowande,Rudy Vallee and Jools Holland, and recorded as a jazz singer with Duke Ellington (with whom she made her most famous recording, "Creole Love Call" in 1927) and with Fats Waller.

Adelaide Hall was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Elizabeth and Arthur William Hall in 1901. Adelaide and her sister Evelyn attended the Pratt Institute, where William Hall taught piano; Evelyn was to die of influenza in 1918, by which time her father had also died, and the teenaged Hall had to support herself and her mother.

Hall began her stage career in 1921 on Broadway in the chorus line of Noble Sissle's and Eubie Blake's hit musical Shuffle Along and went onto appear in a number of similar black musical shows including Runnin' Wild on Broadway in 1923, in which she sang James P. Johnson's hit song "Old-Fashioned Love." In 1925, Hall toured Europe with the Chocolate Kiddies revue that included songs written by Duke Ellington. In 1926, Hall appeared in the short-lived Broadway musical My Magnolia, which had a score written by Luckey Roberts and Alex C. Rogers, after which she appeared in Tan Town Topics with songs written by Fats Waller. Hall then starred in Desires of 1927 (with a score written by Andy Razaf and J. C. Johnson), which toured America from October 1926 through to September 1927.

In 1924, Hall married a British sailor named Bertram Errol Hicks, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago. Soon after their marriage he opened a short-lived club in Harlem, New York, called "The Big Apple" and became her official business manager.

Hall was hired to join the cast of the Chocolate Kiddies revue in New York, where they rehearsed before setting sail for Europe. The initial tour started at Hamburg, Germany, on 17 May 1925, and ended in Paris, France in December 1925 visiting many major cities in-between. The revue was designed to give Europeans a sampling of black entertainment from New York. Included in the cast were The Three Eddies, Lottie Gee, Rufus Greenlee and Thaddeus Drayton, Bobbie and Babe Goins, Charles Davis and Sam Wooding and his Orchestra. After the initial tour disbanded, Sam Wooding and his Orchestra continued touring the Chocolate Kiddies revue for several years later. During Hall's visit to Germany she also sang at Berlin’s renowned transvestite Eldorado Café (club). The venue is immortalised in Christopher Isherwood's novel 'Goodbye to Berlin' and in the 1972 film 'Cabaret' and musical of the same name.

In 1926, upon Hall's return to New York after touring Europe with the Chocolate Kiddies, she was featured in Tan Town Topics, a revue containing songs written by Fats Waller and Spencer Williams. The cast included Fats Waller, Eddie Rector and Ralph Cooper, Adelaide Hall, Maude Mills, Arthur Gaines, Leondus Simmons and a dance troupe called the Tan Town Topics Vamps. The show opened at Harlem's Lafayette Theatre on 5 April followed by a short road tour on the eastern Theater Owners Booking Association (TOBA) circuit taking in Baltimore, Chicago and Philadelphia.

During July 1926, Hall appeared in residency with Lottie Gee and the Southern Syncopated Orchestra at Small's Paradise, New York. On Tuesday, 5 October, Hall appeared again at Small's Paradise at a special party, "Handy Night", hosted by the venue to honour W. C. Handy and to celebrate the release of his newly published book Blues: An Anthology—Complete Words and Music of 53 Great Songs. For entertainment, Adelaide Hall, Lottie Gee, Maude White and Chic Collins provided a selection of jazz and blues numbers. From October 1926, Hall toured America playing the TOBA circuit until September 1927 in the highly praised show Desires of 1927, conceived by J. Homer Tutt and produced by impresario Irvin C. Miller. As the Pittsburgh Courier noted: "Adelaide Hall and assistants have some show. Speed, pretty girls, catchy music, a touch of art, which touches the border line of nudity - the names of such well-known stage celebrities as Adelaide Hall, J. Homer Tutt, Henry "Gang" Jones, the Harmony, Trio, Charles Hawkins, Arthur Porter, "Billy" McKelvey and Clarence Nance." Billed as the star "soubrette" of the show, Adelaide's performance included several songs (most notably "Sweet Virginia Bliss"), flat-foot dancing and accompanying herself on the ukulele while singing.

In October 1927, Hall recorded her wordless vocals on "Creole Love Call", "The Blues I Love To Sing" and "Chicago Stomp Down" with Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. The recordings were worldwide hits and catapulted both Hall's and Ellington's careers into the mainstream.The story behind "Creole Love Call"'s conception is interesting to recount: In 1927, Hall and Duke Ellington were touring in the same show, Dance Mania. The show opened at the Lafayette Theatre in Harlem on 14 November and played there for one week before travelling to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to appear at the Standard Theatre. Hall closed the first half of the bill and Duke was on in the second. Duke had a new number, Creole Love Call, which he included in his set. Hall recounted,

When Duke was recounting the incident to a reporter he explained, "We had to do something to employ Adelaide Hall," and then added, "I always say we are primitive artists, we only employ the materials at hand … the band is an accumulation of personalities, tonal devices." On 4 December 1927, Ellington and his Orchestra commenced their residency at Harlem's Cotton Club in a revue called Rhythmania. The show featured Hall singing "Creole Love Call". In 1928, "Creole Love Call" entered the Billboard song charts at #19 (USA). On 7 January 1933, Hall and Duke Ellington and his Famous Orchestra recorded "I Must Have That Man" and "Baby".

In 1928, Hall starred on Broadway with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson,Tim Moore and Aida Ward in Blackbirds of 1928. The show became the most successful all-black show ever staged on Broadway at that time and made Hall and Bojangles into household names.Blackbirds of 1928 was the idea of impresario Lew Leslie, who planned to build the show around Florence Mills in New York after her success in the hit London show Blackbirds but Mills died of pneumonia in 1927 before rehearsals commenced. Hall was chosen to replace her. The revue opened at Les Ambassadeurs Club in New York in January 1928, under the name Blackbird Revue, but it was renamed Blackbirds of 1928 and in May 1928 transferred to Broadway's Liberty Theatre, where it ran for 518 performances. After a slow start, the show became the hit of the season. Hall's performance of "Diga Diga Do", created a sensation. Her mother was so incensed when she went to see the show by her daughter performing what she termed 'risqué dance moves', she tried to stop the show during Adelaide's performance and banned her from appearing in any future performances. The ban only remained for one performance and Adelaide returned triumphantly to her role the following day. It was reported in the press of the day that the show's producer Lew Leslie was so concerned about race violence connected with the controversy surrounding Adelaide's performance that he took out a hefty insurance policy to cover the cast; the most heavily insured were the principals, Adelaide Hall and "Bojangles" Robinson. It was this musical that not only secured Hall's success in the USA but also in Europe when the production was taken in 1929 to Paris, France, where it ran for four months at the Moulin Rouge. When Adelaide Hall arrived in Paris from America at the Gare Saint-Lazare she was greeted by a reception of fans and reporters that was reported to be as large as the reception Charlie Chaplin had received two years earlier when he visited Paris. The French artist Paul Colin illustrated several posters to advertise Blackbirds run at the Moulin Rouge including one entitled "Le Tumulte Noir – Dancer in Magenta" that captures Hall's performance beautifully, as she is dancing and waving her arms about. An original vintage poster of Adelaide Hall by Paul Colin advertising Blackbirds at the Moulin Rouge sold on 2 October 2003 at Swann Auction Galleries in New York for $167,500. In Europe, Hall rivalled Josephine Baker for popularity on the European stage.

With Blackbirds′ music score written by Jimmy McHugh and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, Hall's performances of the songs "I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby", "Diga Diga Do", "Bandanna Babies" and "I Must Have That Man" made them into household hits, and they continued to be audience favourites throughout her long career. At the end of Blackbirds tenure at the Moulin Rouge, to thank the cast for their successful run and to welcome in the forthcoming Thanksgiving Day, Lew Leslie threw a big party held in the Paris suburb of Authie and, as well as the cast, invited a host of visiting luminaries including the visual artist Man Ray, lyricist Ira Gershwin, writer James Joyce, German composer Kurt Weill, American composer William Grant Still and producer Clarence Robinson. A rare group photograph taken at the event in which Adelaide Hall is seated in the centre surrounded by guests including actress and music hall star Mistinguett, recently surfaced and was sold at Swann Auction Galleries, New York for $2,640. The Blackbirds cast sailed from France back to the US in the fall of 1929 and upon their arrival almost immediately commenced a road tour of the States opening at the Adelphi Theatre, Chicago, on the evening of 26 November. It was in Chicago during December that Adelaide Hall unexpectedly quit the production and hastened home to New York.

Speculation that Hall and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson would be paired up on stage again after Hall quit Blackbirds at the end of 1929 had been rife amongst theatrical circles and in newspaper gossip columns. True to the speculation, in 1930, Hall and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson starred together twice at New York's Palace Theatre on Broadway (in February and in August). Both appearances were for a weeks engagement. During her February appearance, which was Hall's first ever appearance at the Palace Theatre, she received a roaring welcome in front of a capacity house and took six bows at the end of her performance. It was also noted in several newspapers that Lew Leslie had tried everything in his capacity bar from erecting a 'Rock of Gibraltar' to prevent Hall from appearing at any venue with out his consent since she quit Blackbirds. Having failed, Leslie did however manage to put a temporary restraint on her using any of the songs from Blackbirds in her show.So successful was Hall's collaboration with Bojangles that in October 1930 the pair were teamed up together again, this time by Marty Forkins (Bojangles' manager) to star in the Broadway musical Brown Buddies. The musical opened on Broadway at the Liberty Theatre where it ran for four months before commencing a road tour of the States. Dubbed by the press as "a musical comedy in sepia", the core of the music was composed by Millard Thomas but also featured songs by Shelton Brooks, Ned Reed, Porter Grainger, J. C. Johnson, J. Rosamund Johnson, George A. Little, Arthur Sizemore and Edward G. Nelson. After an out-of-town try-out, the musical opened on 7 October at the Liberty Theatre, New York, where it ran a fairly solid run of 111 performances until 10 January 1931.

In 1931, Hall embarked on a world concert tour that visited two continents (America and Europe). The tour was estimated to have performed to more than one million people. During the tour she appeared four times at New York's Palace Theatre. She was accompanied on stage by two pianists who played white grand pianos. It was during this tour that Hall discovered and employed the blind pianist Art Tatum, whom she brought back to New York with her at the end of the tour. In August 1932, Hall recorded "Strange as it Seems", "I'll Never Be The Same", "This Time it's Love" and "You Gave Me Everything but Love" using Art Tatum as one of her pianists on the recordings. Riverside Theatre, Milwaukee, 25 January 1932, review in The Milwaukee Sentinel of Hall's performance:

In the fall of 1932, upon her return to New York, Hall and her husband purchased the lease on an exclusive freehold residential estate in the Village of Larchmont in the New York suburb of Westchester County. As news of her arrival in Larchmont leaked into the local media she began to encounter racial opposition from her white upper-middle-class neighbors, who threatened court action to have Hall evicted. After her home was broken into and an attempt was made to set it alight, news of the attack hit national newspaper headlines. Receiving hundreds of letters of support from the American public imploring her to stick it out, Hall stood her ground and in a press statement she issued insisted that she was a true American citizen as her ancestry could be traced back to the Shinnecock Indian tribe of Long Island and as such she had every right to reside where she wished.

For one week commencing Saturday 14 January 1933, Hall returned to New York to appear in a music revue produced by Leonard Harper at the Harlem Opera House. A journalist from the Pittsburgh Courier newspaper who published under the initials T.Y. wrote in his review of Hall's performance that "she was excellent" and that he was so thrilled to be at the show he totally forgot to jot down on his notepad the title of the songs Hall performed. He did however apologise for this mishap. He also mentioned that Hall was accompanied on stage by a guitar "troubadour" and a blind pianist (referring to Art Tatum) who, he declared, "can really play".

Hall's itinerary included all the principal cities and lasted 30 weeks

On 19 August 1933, the fifth annual Bud Billiken Parade and Picnic took place during the prestigious Chicago World Fair. African Americans came out in droves to support the event held by the Chicago Defender local newspaper. The Chicago Defender had named the event after a weekly column in its children's section written by Willard Motley. Billiken became a symbol of pride, happiness and hope for African-American youth. After the famous parade (the largest to date) a huge free picnic event was held in Washington Park that included games, music, entertainment, dancing and ice cream. Performing in concert at the event in front of an estimated 50,000 people was the parade's guest of honour Adelaide Hall. Also appearing at the event were Cab Calloway, Earl Hines and The Sioux Tribe of Native Americans.

Stormy Weather Revue starring Adelaide Hall, New York, 29 November 1933. "Although crippled from a fall into a manhole while appearing in Boston the week previous to her New York engagement, Adelaide Hall, scintillating star of the Stormy Weather Revue, limps across the stage ahead of an array of stars, which go far to label this revue, about the finest to grace the boards," review taken from The Pittsburgh Courier. In October 1933, for the first time in history the entire floor revue from Harlem's Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities across the U.S. Irving Mills organised the tour and Adelaide Hall headlined the cast. Other performers on the bill included the Mills Blue Rhythm Band and George Dewey Washington. The revue was originally called The Cotton Club Parade of 1933 but for the road tour it was changed to the Stormy Weather Revue. As the name implies, the show contained the hit song "Stormy Weather" written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler, which had been introduced by Ethel Waters earlier that year at the Cotton Club in the Cotton Club Parade of 1933.

Chocolate Soldiers opens at the new Apollo Theater, Harlem, starring Adelaide Hall Harlem, New York, 14 February 1934: Chocolate Soldiers, a production featuring Adelaide Hall and the Sam Wooding Orchestra, opened at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The show was produced by Clarence Robinson and garnered great attention and acclaim and helped establish the recently opened Apollo as Harlem's premier theatre.

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