"'You should sit like this and look like that and play the game of bed partners.' You really had to do things that go against your grain for gain. I wouldn’t.... I want to do it my way. I have no regrets."
Said Ethel Ennis — who "eschewed national celebrity for a quieter life in her hometown," Baltimore, where she was "a beloved performer and jazz advocate" — quoted (from 1979) in "Ethel Ennis, Singer Who Walked Away From Fame, Is Dead at 86" (NYT).
AND: Here she is singing a beautiful rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the second inauguration of Richard Nixon.
ALSO: "I've Got a Right to Sing the Blues":
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An American passes. Lovely girl. Lovely voice. Principled and talented.
Hollywood is a terrible place full of terrible people. Men and women.
She wouldn’t do her part on the casting couch.
Well, it's not The Eagles, but it's not bad.
Is it really any surprise that people who believe the government should decide who wins and loses develop a system where women have to please powerful men in order to get ahead?
Klobuchar is the other side of the Democrat coin. The Democrat men exploit subordinate women for sex. The women just abuse their subordinates because they are mean.
Wow. A beautifully stylized singer. And Mr. Goodman had the good sense not to shove the orchestra in front of her.
I hear a lot of Keeley Smith; Ms. Ennis must've been an influence on her.
Good bless this woman, her courage, convictions and singing.
Ms. Ennis’s performances reflected her convictions. She sang in a sturdy, beaming voice that was quite different from Holiday’s tattered-silk purr. She drew inspiration from crooners like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald, but her vocals were a touch less stagy, more direct. Her readings of popular songs and standards had as much in common with Etta James’s effulgent soul singing as with Fitzgerald’s elegant diction.
Is the NYT attempting to say delicately that Ennis did not have an overtly "soul" voice? In the NYT precincts, saying so directly could be controversial.
Never heard Ethel Ennis before. I loved her voice- wonderful hue in her voice, without being over-dramatic.
The thought of being well-known or famous makes my skin crawl. The quote here sums up the burden nicely: you don't 'belong' to yourself as a famous person. I am very intrigued by this person turning their back on fame. I can draw - have fairly advanced artistic talent. I have been told all the time you should "make a living doing that" or "why don't you display your work?" No. Once I've shown it off to a couple of people in my life - I'm happy. Easy to please I guess - don't understand why one needs the attention of strangers.
alanc709 said...
Never heard Ethel Ennis before. I loved her voice- wonderful hue in her voice, without being over-dramatic.
I heartily agree. Here's a story from NPR (of all places) about the uses and abuses of Melisma
Wilbur@12:16PM Keely Smith had already been recording for 6 years before "Ms. Ennis" made her debut, so it's probably safe to say that if anyone had an influence on anyone else, it would be the established star Keely Smith influencing the newcomer "Ms. Ennis".
Of course, I realize how difficult it can be for many whites ashamed of their race to imagine that white people can be positive influence on minorities, instead of the usual racist rubbish about how soulless whites without rhythm who can't dance ripped off the magical Africans who invented music...
Such an innocent bygone time, when entertainers didn’t feel the need to virtue signal their politics.
A democrat party member who sang at Richard Nixon's inauguration, and didn't have to apologize for it, nor did she take the opportunity to speak with her despicable politics all over the attendees. What a quaint era.
Oh my goodness. That may be my new favorite rendition of our national anthem. That was magical and perfect.
Meryl Streep did her duty. She is a star. She was on good terms with Weinstein. Oprah fed at least several pretty young women to him. A fact that will sink any presidential aspirations.
I wonder if there are any female performers who made it on talent? Could I say Aretha Franklin?
Do any have more talent than this lady?
I don’t have any faith in the assertion that many if any female performers in the last several decades made it without sleeping with some white leftist generally repulsive man and after they were too old enabled them.
Beautiful voice. Classy lady. RIP.
She is an angel.
She has a lovely voice. Her diction, or should I say enunciation, or pronunciation?, on a couple of words was not perfect, and I detected a bit of an urban accent, maybe that's the Baltimore they refer to in the clip. But very pleasant to listen to. More reminiscent of Sarah Vaughn than of Billie Holiday.
Racist Schlump won't miss her, but I will. Waiting on the Mahler report.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler
Wow, a great SSB!
Flags were still at half-mast during her performance at Nixon's second inaugural in honor of President Harry Truman who died a month earlier.
Oh my, her vocals on "My Foolish Heart" there were magnificent.
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