Abbey Lincoln, Vocal and Classic jazz Artist

Abbey Lincoln was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress, who wrote and performed her own compositions.  She was a civil rights advocate and activist from the 1960s on. She made a career not only delivering deeply felt presentations of standards, but she wrote and sang her own material as well.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A

Genre: Vocal Jazz

Born Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), she adopted the stage name Abbey Lincoln.  She was raised in Calvin Center, Cass County, Michigan, and was one of many singers influenced by Billie Holiday.

Her debut album, “Abbey Lincoln’s Affair” – A Story of a Girl in Love, was followed by a series of albums for Riverside Records.  Lincoln’s lyrics were often connected to the civil rights movement in America, and in 1960 she sang on Max Roach’s landmark civil rights-themed recording, “We Insist”.

During the 1980s, Lincoln’s creative output dropped and she released only a few albums during that decade. Her song, “For All WE Know” is featured in the 1989 film Drugstore Cowboy.

In the 1990s and until her death, however, she fulfilled a 10-album contract with Verve Records.   These albums are highly regarded and represent a crowning achievement in Lincoln’s career. Devil’s Got Your Tongue (1992) featured Rodney Kendrick, Grady Tate, Yoron Israel, J.J Johnson, Stanley Turrentine, Babatunde Olatunji and The Staple Singers, among others.

In 2003, Lincoln received a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award.

Biographical information courtesy of wiki/Abbey Lincoln; for more reading see link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Lincoln