Alberta Hunter was the classic “Comeback Kid”. She rose above difficult circumstances to become a legend in jazz music performance. Although she was never a top seller of recordings, her on-stage performance was so captivating that people requested her presence well into her senior years.
Early life
Alberta Hunter was born April 1, 1895, in Memphis, TN. Her father was a train porter and deserted the family shortly after Alberta was born. Mrs. Hunter told her children he was dead and never spoke of him again. Her mother helped support the family by being a maid in a brothel, but she was always ashamed of where she worked and never talked about it to the family. Her mother remarried in 1905, but things were not good at home and by 1906 Alberta, at age 11, hopped a train for Chicago. She had heard from the daughter of a friend that girls were making $10 a week singing in Chicago and decided to see if she could get work there. Alberta thought she could just find this girl. When getting to Chicago, Alberta found that it was a big bustling city. Not daunted by the task of finding the girl, Alberta set off to search. It took her all day, but she located the girl working in a boarding house. The girl convinced the owner to give Alberta a job peeling potatoes for $6 a week plus room and board. She sent her mother $2 a week faithfully to help the family.
Alberta realized early on that she would have to dress to look older if she wanted to get into the clubs. She also practiced her singing so she could convince club owners to give her a job. She finally got a singing job at a place called Dago Frank’s a popular place for prostitutes, pimps, and johns. Alberta said in later years, it was the exposure to the prostitutes that helped her stay away from bad men. The women would consistently tell her to “be a good girl and don’t take these men. Look what we have to put up with.” Her mother had also given her good advice to be independent. “Have plenty of sense, use good judgment, and have a mind of your own.” Alberta took it to heart and gave credit to both her mother and the “girls at Dago Frank’s” for her ability to avoid the heartbreak she so often sang about.
In 1915 her mother left her husband and came to Chicago to live with Alberta. By this time Alberta was singing at a better club called The Panama Cafe making $10 a week. It was at this point when Alberta heard that New York City was a place where singers could make good money in high-end clubs. Alberta and her mother moved to NYC to follow her dreams. Although Alberta considered New York her home and bought several places over the years, she always found NYC a struggle to find work. When it got particularly difficult, she traveled with the Keith-Albee vaudeville show. 1917 found her back in Chicago with a job singing at Dreamland where she met and became lifelong friends with Lil Hardin. She began a 5-year career at Dreamland making $17.50 a week and ended making $35 a week. 1919 saw her married to Willard Townsend. Alberta always said he was a good man, but his friends kept trying to get him to quit his job and let Alberta support him. She also said she knew he would want someone to wash his clothes and iron his shirts and “she didn’t have time for that jazz.” Alberta decided she didn’t to risk his listening to his friends, so after only two months, she decided to separate from Townsend. They were divorced in 1924.
Composer
Alberta was also a composer. Even though she never experienced heartbreak herself, Alberta said she wanted to speak to those women who have been “let down and run over by life.” She wrote “Downhearted Blues” with musician Lovey Austin. Alberta sang it for the first time while singing at Dreamland in Chicago. This was a song that spoke to heartbreak. The first line sets the stage “Gee but it’s hard to love someone when that someone don’t love you.” Alberta recorded it in 1922, but it got real attention when blues singer Bessie Smith decided it would be her first recording with Gulf Coast Blues on the B side. Eventually selling 2 million copies, Downhearted Blues put Alberta on the map as a songwriter who knew how to speak to pain and loss. Her ability to deliver a song was sought after by other composers as well. They would pay her to sing their songs and record them. She was known to please audiences by improvising lyrics to suit the audience.
Europe
By 1927 Alberta began to travel between Europe, NYC and Chicago’s Dreamland. European audiences loved her and she loved them. Alberta even starred in a London production of Showboat in 1928. She returned to the US and Dreamland in 1929 and had a long run singing with pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong and trumpet player Louis Armstrong. Alberta gave concerts all over Europe, Asia, and even Russia. She was enthusiastically received and embraced by royalty, high society and the average “Joe” equally.
The Depression and World War II
The Depression began to jeopardize her income so Alberta returned to Europe in 1933. More work and less racism made Europe very attractive and Alberta performed throughout Europe, even doing a role in the 1935 British movie Radio Parade. This added another landmark in her career as Radio Parade was the first movie to be filmed in color. Alberta’s popularity in Europe wasn’t just for singing. She was a very fashionable dresser and elegant woman who garnered invitations to all the posh parties and got to know many famous people, including royalty.
1937 saw Alberta’s return to the US to an NBC radio contract. By 1938 she decided to settle permanently in the US because of State Department warnings of imminent war in Europe. 1939 saw Hitler invade Poland. Alberta, a woman totally committed to her audience, decided to embark on USO tours. She was actively involved in the USO all through WWII and also the Korean War. The highlight of her USO experience was singing for General Eisenhower and Soviet President Zhokov to celebrate the European victory. Alberta was one of only 40 people to receive the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon for Outstanding Service to the troops during WWII.
After the War
Alberta continued to tour Canada, Europe, and make appearances at Chicago’s Dreamland after the war. Her best vehicle was the live performance. Although she didn’t sell as many records as most female jazz artists of the time, she filled concert halls and auditoriums with raving fans. Her delivery was real and authentic. She could say more with a sideways look or a tweak of the eyebrow than most could with their whole being. People could feel the raw emotions she wrote and sang about whether it was about “My Joint is Jumpin‘” or the less exuberant “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out“. Once the war was over Alberta’s career seemed to lag a bit. She continued to tour Europe and the US but was not in such high demand. She began to do volunteer work at a Joint Disease Hospital in Harlem in the early 1950’s.
Her Mother
The death of her mother in 1954 left Alberta bereft. They had always been close, and since Alberta was without husband or children she felt alone. She retired from singing but at 59 could not retire from life. Committed to hard work and against all the advice from friends, Alberta forged a diploma, lied about her age and applied to the YWCA 3 year nursing program. She was offered a job before the three years was up and went to work after getting her practical nursing license in 1957. She was as loved by her patients as she was her audiences. After 20 years of service as a nurse, the hospital required her retirement thinking she was 70 years old. She was really 82 at the time.
The Comeback Kid
Just 5 months after retiring from nursing she was invited to a swanky party in New York. After singing at the party Alberta was introduced to Charlie Bourgouise who was the organizer for Jazz Festivals around the US. Bourgouise told her “Alberta, why don’t you come back? We need people who can tell the story and make people feel it.” Bourgouise contacted Barney Josephson, founder of Cafe Society in Greenwich Village. Josephson called Alberta the next day for an interview. Even though he had not heard her sing in 20 years, Josephson signed her on the spot and she began her second singing career.
Later Life
Alberta seemed to pick up right where she left off, doing a European tour in London, Paris, and Germany as well as the US and Canada. It wasn’t until 1980 that her health began to give her trouble. Even after several broken bones and a pacemaker, Alberta continued to travel and sing to sold-out audiences. She also did TV shows, talk shows and some minor appearances on Broadway. She even sang three times at the White House under Jimmy Carter. Alberta decided in the summer of 1984 that she could no longer continue to travel and sing. She retired to her home in Harlem and died a few months later on October 17, 1984. She was 89 years old.
Her Legacy
Alberta Hunter left a legacy for women of all races and ages. She loved what she did and would not let anyone define her or the role she would play. She overcame poverty, a lack of formal education, racism and age to mold a life of joy and independence. In a time when women, especially African American women, were marginalized and taken advantage of, she held on to her mother’s words to “have a lot of sense, use good judgment and have a mind of your own.” She loved her audience and the audience loved her back. She made a mark that will be remembered in blues and jazz music for many generations.
Additional Achievements for The Comeback Kid
Additional Achievements for The Comeback KidWrote and sang the soundtrack to the 1978 release of Robert Altman’s Remember My Name. Received the Handy Award for Traditional Female Blues Artist of the Year, Received an achievement award from the city of Memphis for her “immense contribution to the development of an important art form, the blues.” She sang at both Carnegie Hall and the Smithsonian. Recorded for many labels including Paramount, Columbia, Okeh, HMV (British), Bluebird, American Record Company, Jukebox, and Stash. Many of her most outstanding achievements happened after she had turned 82.
Her concert at the Smithsonian can be seen by following this link. It is well worth watching.