Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show ''JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater''. She is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoni ...

Goodwill Ambassador for the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Biography

Born Denise Eileen Garrett 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-mo ...

, she was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city and seat of Genesee County, Michigan, United States. Located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the region known as Mid Michigan. At the 2020 census, Flint had a population of ...

. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, she was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a Rock and R&B trio, singing in clubs in

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 t ...

. At 18, she studied at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It ...

before she went to the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

. With the school's jazz band, she toured the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

in 1969. The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where Cecil played in Horace Silver's band. In the early 1970s, Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as lead vocalist. This marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but a ...

, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Wayne Garfield, and others. She performed at the

Monterey Jazz Festival The Monterey Jazz Festival is an annual music festival that takes place in Monterey, California, United States. It debuted on October 3, 1958, championed by Dave Brubeck and co-founded by jazz and popular music critic Ralph J. Gleason and jazz ...

in 1973. In 1974, her first solo album, entitled ''Afro Blue'', appeared, and she performed on Broadway in the

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

'' The Wiz''. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a

in 1975 as "Best Featured Actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Ddbridg014

She subsequently appeared in several other stage productions. After touring

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1984 with the musical '' Sophisticated Ladies'', she moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

in 1986. The same year saw her in ''Lady Day,'' as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

, for which role she was nominated for the

Laurence Olivier Award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

, as well as recording the song "''Precious Thing"'' with

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

, featured on her album '' Victim of Love''. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she returned from the world of Pop and

Contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhy ...

to Jazz. She performed at the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...

in Italy and the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

in 1990, and four years later, she finally collaborated with Horace Silver, whom she had long admired, and released the album '' Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver''. Performed also at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (1996). Her 1997 tribute album ''

Dear Ella ''Dear Ella'' is a 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, who had died the previous year. For ''Dear Ella'', Bridgewater won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Slide Hampton won the Grammy Aw ...

'' won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album '' Live at Yoshi's'' was also worth a Grammy nomination. Performed again at the

(1998). She has also explored on '' This Is New'' (2002) the songs of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

, and, on her next album '' J'ai deux amours'' (2005), the French Classics. Hancock Bridgewater

Her album '' Red Earth'', released in 2007, features Africa-inspired themes and contributions by numerous musicians from

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

. Performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (2007). On December 8, 2007, she performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, D.C. She tours frequently, including overseas gigs around the world. October 16, 2009 found her opening the Shanghai JZ Jazz Festival, in which she sang tunes associated with

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

, along with Ellington compositions and other jazz standards. As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. Awarded Honorary Doctorates from

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, Bridgewater makes a concerted effort to mentor and nurture young artists. In April 2017, Bridgewater was the recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Award with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and in 2018 was awarded the 2018 Maria Fisher Founder's Award by the Thelonious Monk/Hancock Institute of Jazz. She is currently on tour worldwide in support of her latest CD, “'' Memphis...Yes, I'm Ready''”.

Philanthropy

Bridgewater has a long history of philanthropy and advocacy. Her appointment as UN Goodwill Ambassador to the FAO, as well as the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award, along with her ongoing work with UNESCO for World Jazz Day coupled with her recognition as a Doris Duke Artist set in motion her founding of The Woodshed Network. Launched in 2019, The Woodshed Network was conceived as a program for Women in Jazz, to provide professional support and accelerate careers through mentorship, knowledge sharing and community interaction. The program is a collaboration between Dee Dee Bridgewater as Artistic Director, (DDB Productions + DDB Records), Tulani Bridgewater-Kowalski as Associate Artistic Director (Bridgewater Artists Management), and 651 ARTS with funding by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The first year's alumna include Erinn Alexis (sax),

Lakecia Benjamin Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist. Benjamin was born and raised in New York City. She grew up in a Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights, Manhattan and played merengue, salsa, and Latin music. As a touring m ...

(sax), Darynn Dean (vocals), Sarah Hanahan (sax), Kennedy (vocals), Amina Scott (bass), and Sequoia Snyder (piano). Program mentors included

Sheila Jordan Sheila Jordan (born Sheila Jeanette Dawson; November 18, 1928) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pione ...

, Arthel Neville, Marilyn Rosen (Marilyn Rosen Presents), Alisse Kingsley (Muse Media Public Relations), Maureen McFadden (DL Media), Jett Galindo (The Bakery LA), Shirazette Tinnin, Fanny Delsol (Motema), Simma Levine (NJ PAC), Robin Tomchin (Motema), Stacie Negas (Sony Masterworks), and Lisa Jefferson (LRJ Account Management) with Bridgewater-Kowalski serving as moderator.

Acting

Dee Dee had appeared in such films as the 1979 film '' The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh'' and the 1984 film '' The Brother from Another Planet''. She has made a guest appearance in the hit sitcom '' Benson'' and the hit sci-fi fantasy TV series '' Highlander: The Series''. Film and Television credits include: *''

Everybody Rides the Carousel ''Everybody Rides the Carousel'' is a 1975 independent animated film about the stages of life. It was directed by John Hubley and written and produced by Hubley and his wife Faith. Among the cast are Meryl Streep, Dinah Manoff, and Lane Smith and ...

'', Stage 7, 1976 *'' The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh'' as Brandy, 1979 *'' Benson'' as Michelle, 1980 *'' Another Life'' as Samantha Marshall, 1982 *''

Night Partners ''Night Partners'' is a 1983 American TV movie by director Noel Nosseck starring Yvette Mimieux and Diana Canova. It was based on a true story about a project to help victims of crime in Arizona.TV NOTEBOOK The Globe and Mail 12 Mar 1983: P.5. R ...

'' as Gloria, 1983 *'' The Wiz'' as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (TV version of Broadway Musical), 1983 *'' The Brother from Another Planet'' as Malverne Davis, 1984 *'' Highlander: The Series'' as Carolyn Lamb in "The Beast Below" (Season 1, Ep.16), 1993 *"Falstaff on the Moon" (short film), 1993 *''Corps plongés'' (It's Not About Love) as "la femme au verre du lait", 1998 *''

Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure ''Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure'' (french: Tous à l'Ouest: Une Aventure de Lucky Luke) is a 2007 French animated western comedy film directed by Olivier Jean-Marie from a screenplay penned by Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry with the kind ...

'' as Molly, 2007

Personal life

Bridgewater is the mother to three children, Tulani Bridgewater (from her marriage to Cecil Bridgewater), China Moses (from her marriage to theater, film and television director Gilbert Moses) and Gabriel Durand (from her last marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand). Her eldest daughter, Tulani Bridgewater, attended the Mirman School for Gifted Children in Los Angeles, CA. She went on to graduate from the Ecole Active Bilingue in Paris, France at age 16, going on to graduate from

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely foll ...

. She serves as Bridgewater's manager under her firm Bridgewater Artists Management and runs Bridgewater's production company and record label (DDB Productions, Inc. And DDB Records). Daughter China Moses is an accomplished singer, songwriter, producer, radio host and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

VJ (France). Her critically acclaimed albums have earned her an international reputation as heir to Bridgewater's legacy. Moses tours worldwide, occasionally sharing the bill with Bridgewater.

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

The

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

s are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Bridgewater has won two Grammys with eight nominations.

Other accolades

* First American to be inducted into the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie * Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Award (France) *

, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, '' The Wiz'', 1975 *

Nomination, Best Actress in a Musical, “Lady Day”, 1987 * AUDELCO Award, Outstanding Performance in a Musical-Female, ''LADY DAY'', 2014 *

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Foundation Champion Award, 2017 * NEA Jazz Masters, 2017 *

Doris Duke Performing Artist Award The Doris Duke Artist Award is undertaken by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and designed to "empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering multi-year, unrestricted funding as a response to financial and funding challenges both unique to ...

, 2018 *Thelonious Monk

Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz is a non-profit music education organization founded in 1986. Before 2019, it was known as the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, but was then renamed after its longtime board chairman, Herbie Hancock. The in ...

Maria Fisher Founder's Award, 2018 * - A Life for Jazz Award, Stuttgart Jazz Open, 2019 * Memphis Music Hall of Fame, 2019

Discography

As guest * Frank Foster – ''

The Loud Minority ''The Loud Minority'' is an album by American saxophonist Frank Foster recorded in 1972 for the Mainstream label.Edwards, D., Callahan, Eyries, P., Watts, R. & Neely, TDiscography of the Mainstream Label (Preview) accessed November 13, 2014 Rece ...

'' ( Mainstream, 1972) * Stanley Clarke - ''

Children of Forever ''Children of Forever'' is the debut album by jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. It was recorded in December 1972, and was released in 1973 by Polydor Records. On the album, Clarke is joined by vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Andy Bey, flutist A ...

'' (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United State ...

, 1973) *

Roy Ayers Roy Ayers (born September 10, 1940) is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player, and music producer. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at ...

– '' Coffy'' (Polydor, 1973) – as Denise Bridgewater * Buddy Terry – '' Lean on Him'' (Mainstream, 1973) * Norman Connors – ''Love from the Sun'' ( Buddah, 1974) *

Cecil McBee Cecil McBee (born May 19, 1935) is an American jazz bassist. He has recorded as a leader only a handful of times since the 1970s, but has contributed as a sideman to a number of jazz albums. Biography Early life and career McBee was born in Tu ...

– '' Mutima'' ( Strata-East, 1974) * Charles Sullivan – ''

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

'' (Strata-East, 1974) * Carlos Garnett — '' Black Love'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in ...

, 1974) * Stanley Clarke – ''I Wanna Play for You'' ( Nemperor, 1979) * Hollywood Bowl Orchestra – ''Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album'' ( Philips Classics, 1996) * Ray Brown — '' Some of My Best Friends Are...Singers'' ( Telarc, 1998) * BWB – ''Groovin ( Warner Bros., 2002) * Christian McBride – '' Conversations with Christian'' ( Mack Avenue, 2011) Film soundtrack *'' Coffy'' (Dir. Jack Hill, 1973) — performer: "Coffy Baby", "Coffy Is the Color (Main Title)" - as Denise Bridgewater *'' Try This One for Size'' (Dir. Guy Hamilton, 1989) *'' The Brother from Another Planet'' (Dir. John Sayles, 1984) — performer: "Getaway", "Boss of the Block" *''Présumé dangereux'' (Dir. Georges Lautner, 1990) — performer: "Turning Round" *''

La Vengeance d'une Blonde ''La Vengeance d'une blonde'' is a 1994 French comedy film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. Plot Gérard Breha is journalist on a Breton regional channel. He host, happy, his last Show, as he has been named host to the 23 hours newsreader on the large ...

'' (Dir. Jeannot Szwarc, 1994) - performer with

Philip Bailey Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, ...

: " People and Places" *'' Monster-in-Law'' (Dir.

Robert Luketic Robert Luketic (born 1 November 1973) is an Australian film director. His films include ''Legally Blonde'' (2001), '' Monster-in-Law'' (2005), '' 21'' (2008), '' Killers'' (2010), and '' Paranoia'' (2013). Early life Robert Luketic was born in ...

, 2005) — performer: "Into My Soul" *'' Elsa & Fred'' (Dir. Michael Radford, 2014) — performer: "Step 1"

References

External links

* – official site * * *
Dee Dee Bridgewater
interview at Rockwired.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgewater, Dee Dee 1950 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers African-American jazz musicians American women jazz singers American jazz singers Jazz musicians from Michigan Musicians from Flint, Michigan Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee American expatriates in France Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Grammy Award winners Michigan State University alumni Sanremo Music Festival winners Tony Award winners Traditional pop music singers Singers from Michigan 21st-century American women singers Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Tennessee Record producers from Tennessee Record producers from Michigan African-American actresses Verve Records artists Food and Agriculture Organization American stage actresses 21st-century American singers African-American Catholics 21st-century African-American women singers Okeh Records artists