Salome Bey CM (October 10, 1933 – August 8, 2020) was an American-born, Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and actress who, after emigrating to Toronto in 1964, became known as “Canada’s first lady of the blues.” In 2005, she was made an honorary Member of the Order of Canada. In 2022 she was honoured by Canada Post with a commemorative postage stamp for her contributions to Canadian music and theatre.
Salome Bey was born Salome Widerman in Newark, New Jerseyto Andrew and Victoria Wideman. Her father was a devoted student of the African diaspora who, after converting to Islam, changed his family’s surname to Bey. Salome and her eight siblings grew up learning prayers in Arabic and fasting during Ramadan. When she was 14, she and her sisters sneaked out of the house and performed at an “Amateur Night” at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, where they won the night’s contest.
Bey attended Arts High School, the famed performing arts school in Newark whose graduates include jazz greats Sarah Vaughn and Wayne Shorter. As a young woman, she joined her brother Andy and sister Geraldine, and they toured North America and Europe as the vocal group Andy and the Bey Sisters. The trio became regulars at the Blue Note in Paris.
In 1961, the group made its first appearance in Toronto, Ontario, and Bey moved there permanently in 1964. That year, she married Howard Matthews, a restaurateur who owned The Underground Railroad, a restaurant and nightclub that served as a meeting place for the city’s Black community. The couple raised two daughters, Jacintha Tuku and Saidah Baba Talibah, and one son, Marcus Matthews.
Here’s “Stardust” from above album
Bey became a fixture of Canada’s jazz and blues club circuit. She also worked in theater, starring in the 1971 musical Justine, for which she won an Obie Award when it moved to Off Broadway (where it was renamed Love Me, Love My Children). She next appeared on Broadway in leading roles in Dude and Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope and earned a Grammy nomination in 1976 for the cast album of Your Arms Too Short to Box with God, a Broadway play based on the Biblical book of Matthew.
In 1978, Bey wrote and starred in Indigo, a cabaret show on the history of the blues that had an all-Black cast and crew. The show played to sold-out crowds for over a year and won two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, an honor presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts. Indigo was widely credited with breaking ground for Black theater performers in Canada. Bey played leading roles in Shimmytime, a revue about the singer and actress Ethel Waters, and Madame Gertrude, about the blues singer Ma Rainey.
Bey released five jazz, blues, and gospel albums and numerous singles from 1970 to 1995, including live recordings from the Montreux Jazz Festival. She was part of the Canadian supergroup Northern Lights which performed the charity single "Tears Are Not Enough" in 1985. Bey can be seen in the music video for the song singing the line "Every woman, child and man" with Mark Holmes of Platinum Blonde and Lorraine Segato of The Parachute Club.
Bey’s holiday special Salome Bey’s Christmas Soul aired on CBC and featured guests Maureen Forrester, Billy Newton-Davis, Molly Johnson, Jackie Richardson, and the Faith Chorale Gospel Choir. Bey continued to appear in concert, often appearing with her daughters Tuku and Sate who, with other musicians, were known as Salome Bey & the Relatives.
In 1996, she received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for lifetime achievement from the Black Theatre Workshop of Montreal, and in 2005 she was made an honorary member of the Order of Canada, the nation’s second highest civilian honor. In 2018, Bey was celebrated in the 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women project created by The Honourable Jean Augustine.
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Salome Bey & husband Howard Matthews |
Salome Bey suffered from dementia in the final years of her life and died at the Lakeside Long Term Care home in Toronto on August 8, 2020, at the age of 86.
(Edited from Ross Coen bio @ Black past.org & Wikipedia)
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For Salome Bey – Four Classic Albums” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/SWJaJcp6
Salome Bey – Salome Bey (1970 Quality)
1. Hit The Nail Right On The Head 2:37
2. Star Dust 3:25
3. You're Gonna Fall 3:12
4. The Clock 2:25
5. Underground Railroad Station 4:03
6. Muy Caliente No! 2:25
7. Once In A Lifetime / You're Gonna Hear From Me 3:55
8. Easy Come Love 3:33
9. But Not For Me 4:24
10. Mon Pays 3:25
Salome Bey – Salome Bey In Montreux (1981 Intercan)
2020 Digital re-issue release with extra tracks* not on original album.
1. Getting to Know You 02:56
2. Mood Indigo 05:49
3. You Never Gave Me Your Money 04:25
4. Bessie Smith Medley: Chief Engineer; Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl; Squeeze Me;
Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out; St. Louis Blues 07:31
5. Everything Must Change 05:18
6. Mercy Mercy Mercy *
7. Billie Holiday Medley: Them There Eyes; T'aint Nobody's Business if I Do;
Don't Explain; God Bless the Child 18:01
8. After You’ve Gone*
9. Untitled Love Song 03:50
10. I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free 07:24
Recorded at Mountain Recording Studios, Montreux, Switzerland at the 13th International Jazz Festival (1979).
Salome Bey – I Like Your Company (1992 Duke Street)
1. Am I Blue 5:45
2. Don't Explain 5:35
3. Young At Heart 3:36
4. Untitled Love Song 4:01
5. Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me 3:36
6. I Like Your Company 4:08
7. Baby Won't You Please Come Home 3:09
8. As Time Goes By 5:49
9. I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart 3:12
10. A Kiss To Build A Dream On 3:28
11. Lover Man 5:43
12. Washed Away 4:10
Salome Bey – Christmas Blue (1995 Rainbowhirl)
1 Christmas Is Coming 3:15
2 Joy To The World 4:31
3 Why Can't The Christmas Spirit Be Always 4:07
4 O Come All Ye Faithful 2:08
5 Christmas Blue 3:45
6 Christmastime, Christmastime 4:08
7 Silent Night 5:10
8 What Child Is This 3:50
9 O Holy Night 5:58
10 It Is Time We Celebrate What Christmas Is Really About Acappella 0:40
11 It Is Time We Celebrate What Christmas Is Really About 3:43
For two Andy & the Bey Sisters compilation albums go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/rvKtxy9J
Andy And The Bey Sisters (2012 Blue Moon)
01. Trees (Kilmer-Rasbach) 3:10
02. Revenge (Sharp-Khent) 1:57
03. On the Sunny Side of the Street (Fields-McHugh) 1:46
04. Zombie Jamboree (Back to Back) (Mauge, Jr.) 2:00
05. Mood Indigo (Ellington-Bigard-Mills) 3:29
06. It Must Be So (Leonard Bernstein) 2:01
07. You Cant Be Mine Anymore (Mark Lewis) 2:31
08. Dreamy (Garner-Shaw) 2:48
09. Smooth Sailing (Cobb) 2:16
10. A Felicidade (Jobim-DeMoraes) 2:51
11. Dont Get Around Much Anymore (Ellington-Russell) 2:43
12. Bye Bye, Blackbird (Henderson-Dixon) 2:19
13. Chanson damour (Shanklin) 2:31
14. Big Mamou (Davies) 2:10
15. Smooth Sailing (Cobb) 2:24
16. Scoubidou (Allan-Tezé-Distel) 2:42
17. Fascinating Rhythm (G. & I. Gershwin) 2:22
18. Bye Bye, Blackbird (Henderson-Dixon) 2:23
Tracks #1-12 are taken from the RCA Victor LP "Andy and the Bey Sisters" (LSP-2315). The musical director is Chet Atkins. Recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1960
Tracks #13-14, from the RCA Victor 47-7929 (45 rpm) are with orchestra arranged by Ray Ellis.Recorded in New York City, in 1961
Tracks #15-16: With Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Barney Wilen (tenor sax), Paul Rovère (bass), Kenny Clarke (drums).
Recorded in Paris, in 1959
Tracks #17-18: Unknown backing. Recorded in London, in 1959.
Andy Bey & The Bey Sisters - Now! Hear!/Round Midnight (2000 Prestige)
Now! Hear! (1965)
1. Willow Weep For Me 3:20
2. A Taste Of Honey 3:40
3. Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars 3:00
4. Sister Sadie 2:28
5. Since I Fell For You 4:40
6. Night Song 4:25
7. Besame Mucho 2:56
8. September In The Rain 4:09
9. The Swingin' Preacher 3:20
10. Smiles 1:40
'Round Midnight (1965)
11. Love Medley: (6:19)
12. Love Is Just Around The Corner
13. I Love You
14. Love You Madly
15. God Bless The Child 3:35
16. Squeeze Me 3:39
17. Tammy 2:13
18. Hallelujah I Love Her So 2:23
19. Everybody Loves My Baby 2:36
20. 'Round Midnight 3:27
21. Solitude 2:45
22. Feeling Good 2:55
23. Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye 3:02
This long-overdue CD brings together two of their rare albums for Prestige -- Now Hear and Round Midnight -- both nearly impossible to find on vinyl, and never issued before on CD. The set contains a total of 20 tracks. Fantastic stuff -- like nothing you've ever heard before! (Dusty Groove notes).
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