African American Music History /Famous African American Women in history -pt-1

When ever the topic of music comes up most people are talking  about a  song they may like or a group. In this  artical  I would like to focous on a Famous African American Women / Black women in history. This women is Ms. Ethel Waters.

She is said to have influenced many great jazz and mainstream singers as well as theater performers. Ethel Waters was born on October 31, 1896, in Chester, Pennsylvania as a result of her mother being raped at knifepoint. She had a rough childhood  and lived in poverty. She details her childhood and early struggles in her autobiography, His Eye are on the Sparrow.

 Ms. Warters  dropped out of school when she was eight . She worked cleaning houses to try and make it. Her career as a singer started with a amateur night performance in Philadelphia. She also got a  started by working in the black theater circuit where she performed in “Sweet Mama String bean”.

She worked in the white vaudeville circuit. She was the frist black women in history to  transition from vaudeville to theater. As an entertainer she led the way for many great entertainers. Her talents as a superstar had no limits. Her performances ranged from the theater stage ,  to movie, radio as well as her night club performances.

 In 1922 she was on the radio. In 1925 she was the first black women in history to star on her own at the Palace Theater in  New York !!  In 1933 she was the first black women in history to star in a  network radio commercial.  During that  same time she had 50 songs that became hits.

 It is a little known black history fact that  Ms. Ethel Waters was one of the first black women to appear on television.  To add to her many  talents  her star performance on Broadway in a dramatic play has been noted as being the first in history by an African American Women . In her  later years  she toured with Billy Graham. Ms. Waters occasionally performed until her death in 1977 . She died in Chatsworth California.