Mildred Anderson (born circa 1928/29) was a criminally overlooked, and now completely unjustly forgotten, excellent Brooklyn American jazz, blues and R&B singer who built a reputation in the New York clubs during the second half of the 1940s.
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| Hot Lips Page |
Later, she worked and recorded with Hot Lips Page in 1951 and remained with the outfit for over a year, making innumerable raod trips and did many night club and theatre dates in New York, Philadelphia and Washington. In 1953 she joined organist Bill Doggett and his band where she enjoyed her greatest recording success with "No More In Life"" which sold in excess of 100,000 copies. Once during her club performance with the Doggett Trio, she was constantly shouted at and insulted by two hecklers. Mildred walked off the stage wordless in the middle of the song and quickly dealt with the two cheeky men. With the help of grabs she learned from her brother, who was then serving Uncle Sam in the Marines, she knocked the rioters to the ground and pacified them completely. Then she handed them over to the care of the club's security.
A friend from Mildred's school days Hortense Allen, produced shows at Club Harlem, near corner Arctic and Kentucky Avenues, Atlantic City, New Jersey, commencing 23 June 1955, featuring Mildred Anderson and Jimmy Tyler. Club Harlem was owned by Leroy Williams. In July 1955 "Jet" reported that Mildred and Baltimore bandleader Arthur Garner were exchanging wedding vows in front of ringsiders at the Club Harlem where she was working, but then Mildred battled serious health complications for four long years, but by April 1960, she was completely healthy and announced hers comeback in great singing form through the press.By this time, she had already prepared for release her solo debut album, Person To Person (Prestige-Bluesville Records), on which she was accompanied by tenor saxophonist Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis's band, including Shirley Scott on organ. It was recorded in a single day on January 22, 1960, produced by Esmond Edwards at the famous Englewood Cliffs Studios, and behind the mixing desk sat none other than the owner of the studio, the famous sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder.
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In September 1960, Mildred enters Rudy Van Gelder's New Jersey studio kingdom for the second time. Backed by an Al Sears group, under the producer supervision of Ozzie Cadena, recordings were made for Mildred's second, and unfortunately also last, solo LP No More In Life (1961, Prestige-Bluesville Records). Mildred and Hortense worked together at the Key Club, 1325 Washington Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota during April 1961, backed by Gene "Bowlegs" Miller and his band. In April 1961, she appears in Minneapolis. Accompanied by Gene Miller's orchestra, she sings on the stage of the local Key Club. Five months later, she married Philadelphia businessman Bob Freeman.
In July 1962 Mildred gave a concert in Montreal and finished the performance with big problems. She lost her voice and had to withdraw from the music industry. At the end of 1970, having recovered her voice, accepts an invitation to perform as a guest at Cyrus Scott’s Sahara Supper Club, Philadelphia. After this she faded into obscurity--in fact, into oblivion. I was unable to gather more information including dates of birth and possible death, but her former partner, bandleader Arthur Garner, died in 2011 surrounded by the loving care of his five children and several grandchildren. Whether any of the children were the fruit of their relationship with Mildred is again unclear.
(Patchy information edited from Blues Encyclopedia, Album liner notes, cernejpudink.cz & Wikipedia)
