Charles Anderson (1883 – after 1937) was an American

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

entertainer, singer and

female impersonator A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part of ...

, known as a pioneer performer of

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

songs.

Biography

Born in either Snow HillLynn Abbott, Doug Seroff, ''The Original Blues: The Emergence of the Blues in African American Vaudeville'', Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2017, pp.145-146
/ref> or

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, Anderson was an active vaudeville performer by 1909, when he played in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. He shared bills with

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and ...

on several occasions, and by summer 1913 was known for his comedy and his performances of blues songs and "lullaby

yodel Yodeling (also jodeling) is a form of singing which involves repeated and rapid changes of pitch between the low-pitch chest register (or "chest voice") and the high-pitch head register or falsetto. The English word ''yodel'' is derived from th ...

s", called by one reviewer "the Male Mockingbird". Anderson regularly performed as a female impersonator, in costume as an archetypal "mammy", and performed songs including " Baby Seals Blues" and

W. C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musici ...

's " Saint Louis Blues".

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her not ...

, long regarded as the first performer of the latter song, stated that she had first heard it sung by Anderson in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

in 1917. Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff, ""They Cert'ly Sound Good to Me": Sheet Music, Southern Vaudeville, and the Commercial Ascendancy of the Blues", ''American Music'', Vol. 14, No. 4, New Perspectives on the Blues (Winter, 1996), pp.421-422
/ref> He also toured in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and elsewhere. In 1923, Anderson recorded Seals' blues for

Okeh Records Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...

, as "Sing 'Em Blues", with piano accompaniment by Eddie Heywood Sr. Blues scholars Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff commented on the performance: "Capturing the full range of Anderson's folk-operatic tenor voice in a remarkable rendition of the first published vocal blues song, this record survives to demonstrate an unabashedly comical resolution of "high" and "low" art, a positive realization of "colored folks opera." Anderson recorded a further six songs for Okeh in 1924, and at his final recording session in 1928 recorded "Saint Louis Blues" as well as "I Got Those Crying Yodelin' Blues." "Charles Anderson (vocalist)", ''Discography of American Historical Recordings''
Retrieved 5 March 2018 Although a favorite with black vaudeville audiences at the time, Anderson has tended to be dismissed as a curiosity by later critics because of his high voice and clear diction, which Abbott and Seroff say "conflict with modern tastes and stereotypes." Anderson is thought to have died in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, after 1937.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Charles 1883 births 1930s deaths American blues singers Vaudeville performers Musicians from Birmingham, Alabama 20th-century American singers