
She began studying music when she was seven, taking eight years of piano lessons and two years of organ. As a child she sang in the choir at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Newark and played piano and organ in high school productions at Arts High School. She entered an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem area, singing "Body and Soul", and won the $10 prize and a week's engagement at the Apollo. From 1944 to 1945, she sang with Billy Eckstine and in 1947 she married her manager, trumpeter George Treadwell. Her later husbands included pro football player Clyde Atkins and trumpeter Waymon Reed. She received many awards, including an Emmy in 1981 for a tribute to George Gershwin and a Grammy in 1983.


Self
1962 • 6 エピソード

Self
1961 • 5 エピソード

Self
1962 • 1 エピソード

Self - Guest
1968 • 3 エピソード

1987 • 1 エピソード

Self
1950 • 1 エピソード

Self
1948 • 6 エピソード

Self
1972 • 1 エピソード

Self
1953 • 1 エピソード

Self - Singer
1956 • 1 エピソード

Self
1957 • 1 エピソード

Self
1969 • 1 エピソード
Self
1971 • 1 エピソード

Self (archive footage)
2018

Singer
1960

Self
1955

Self
2014

Self (archive footage)
2025

Self (archive footage)
2012

Self (archive footage)
2009