Anna
Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010), better known by her stage
name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress. Lincoln was
unusual in that she wrote and performed her own compositions, expanding the
expectations of jazz audiences.
Born
Anna Marie Wooldridge on August 6, 1930, in Chicago, Ill., Lincoln grew up in
rural Michigan on a large farm with her 11 siblings. The family had a piano,
and she developed an interest in music at an early age, when she began singing
in school and church choirs.
As
Lincoln's talent matured, she began learning to express the emotions behind the
lyrics. She credits the recordings of Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah
Washington with teaching her how to sing with conviction. To escape the harsh
Michigan winters, Lincoln moved to California. At 22, she spent a year in
Honolulu, singing at a nightclub under the name Gaby Lee. When she moved back
to California, she met lyricist Bob Russell, who became her manager and renamed
her Abbey Lincoln.
After
several years out west, Lincoln left for Chicago. While her singing career was
beginning to build, she landed a role singing in the film The Girl Can't Help
It, wearing a dress once worn by Marilyn Monroe. But the glamorous life wasn't
sitting well with Lincoln, and she fired Russell and moved on. In 1956, she
recorded her first album, Abbey Lincoln's Affair: A Story of a Girl in Love.
The following year, she moved to New York City and worked at the Village
Vanguard, which at that time was an intimate supper club, perfect for aspiring
artists.
While
performing at the Village Vanguard, Lincoln met drummer, composer and bebop
innovator Max Roach, whom she would later
marry. It was Roach who introduced
her to New York City's jazz elite. He also played an important role in her
development as a sociopolitical artist and activist. Lincoln and Roach began
collaborating frequently during the end of the 1950s and throughout the 1960s.
During this time, the civil-rights movement was on the rise, and they, along
with Charles Mingus, Oscar Brown Jr., John Coltrane and other jazz musicians,
were right in the thick of it. Lincoln, Roach, Brown and others performed at
benefits and fundraising concerts for the NAACP, CORE and other civil-rights
organizations. In 1960, they recorded Roach's masterpiece, We Insist! Freedom
Now Suite.
In
the mid-1960s, Abbey Lincoln starred in two more films, Nothing but a Man and
For the Love of Ivy. At the end of the decade, she and Roach had divorced;
Lincoln moved back to California and immersed herself in art. Even though she
was experiencing some financial hardship during that time, singer Miriam Makeba
offered her the chance to visit Africa.
In
1972, Lincoln traveled to Africa after a 10-year hiatus from recording. There,
she was given the name Aminata Moseka by the president of Guinea and Zaire's
minister of information. She used the names Aminata Moseka alongside Abbey
Lincoln to represent her African heritage. She also began to write stories.
Throughout
the 1970s and '80s, Lincoln recorded on small independent labels such as Inner
City and Enja. Her career got a major boost in 1989, however, when French
producer Jean-Philippe Allard invited her to record for Verve Records/France.
In later years, she inspired a series of younger jazz singers, including
Cassandra Wilson and Lizz Wright, who both cited Lincoln as an inspiration for
their own careers.
When
The World Is Falling Down was released in 1990, the record propelled Lincoln
back to stardom. Since then, she made a string of stellar, philosophical albums
that continued to bring her critical and commercial success, all the way
through the release of her final record, 2007's Abbey Sings Abbey which
featured a dozen songs about self-discovery. She also acted again for the first
time in decades, with a small role in the 1990 Spike Lee film Mo' Better Blues.
In
2003 the National Endowment for the Arts presented her with its Jazz Masters
Award, America's highest jazz honour.
She
underwent open-heart surgery in 2007. Latterly she lived on Manhattan's Upper
West Side, in an apartment filled with her own paintings and drawings. Abbey
Lincoln died on August 14, 2010 in Manhattan at the age of 80. Her death was
announced by her brother, David Wooldridge, who told the New York Times that
Lincoln had died in her Manhattan nursing home after suffering deteriorating
health for years. No cause of death was officially given. She was cremated and
her ashes were scattered. (Info edited mainly from NPR Music)
3 comments:
Abbey Lincoln - Through The Years (1956-2007) [3CD BoxSet]
CD1 http://uploaded.net/file/2lll79yk/from/wxerdb
CD2 http://uploaded.net/file/lno5cg16/from/wxerdb
CD3 http://uploaded.net/file/0vzdttlo/from/wxerdb
ART http://uploaded.net/file/56rrsk6u/from/wxerdb
Looks like the links are expired. I love Abbey L. Can you pls refresh?
Sam
Hello Sam, Sorry but I cannot find the album from 7 years ago. It's not in my database anymore. The original 3 files were from a blog that's been deleted. However I did find a posting here https://opubisdarosa.blogspot.com/2018/12/abbey-lincoln-through-years-1956-2007.html
Again, you’ll have to request new links. Regards, Bob.
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