Alberta Hunter

She met with Willard Saxby Townsend in Jan 1919 and they got married in Kentucky on Jan 27th 1919. But unfortunately their marriage was never consummated. They got divorced in 1923.

She was a lesbian. She used to live with her partner Lottie Tyler. Tyler was the niece of African American comedian Bert Williams. They lived in New York. They broke up in Paris but remained good friends.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Alberta Hunter was the daughter of a railroad porter Charles E. Hunter. After her birth, her father left the family. Her mother, who was a domestic in a brothel, married again.

At the age of 11, she ran away to Chicago and got a job in a boarding house for $6 a week. During this time, she often used to sneak into various night clubs there to get a chance to perform as a singer.

In 1911, she performed in a club in Chicago’s Southside namely Dago Frank’s. After working there for two years, she left the club when it closed down. Thereafter, she started singing in the Elite Caf� where she met with pianist and songwriter Tony Jackson.

She helped Tony to popularize his song Pretty Baby. For some years, she performed in several nightclubs. In 1917, her performance in Dreamland Caf�, got her recognition as one of the Chicago’s top blues singer.

She travelled to New York to do recording job for Black Swan records. In 1921, she recorded several songs like “He’s a Darned Good Man to Have Around”; “How Long, Sweet Daddy, How long “ and so on.

For the next two years, she travelled between Chicago and New York for her performances and recording job. In July of 1922, she recorded a number of songs for the Paramount label.

In February 1923, she went through one of the best phases of her music career when she became the first African American singer to be backed by an all white band - the Original Memphis Five.

This famous singer and songwriter did her graduation from the Harlem YWCA nursing school in 1956 to become a licensed practical nurse. After working as a nurse for over twenty years, she retired in 1977.

After her retirement, she started working as a cabaret singer in New York at the Cookery situated in Greenwich Village although she was more than 80 years old at that time.