Paula Watson ( Pauline Mazeppa Henry; September 9, 1927 – October 19, 2003) was 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 major ...

and R&B singer and pianist.

Biography

Watson was born in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

. After moving to California, she recorded for the Supreme label in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, and her first single, " A Little Bird Told Me", written by jazz pianist Harvey Brooks and featuring guitarist Tiny Webb, reached number 2 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

(then called the "

Race Record Race records were 78-rpm phonograph records marketed to African Americans between the 1920s and 1940s.Oliver, Paul. "Race record." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 13 Feb. 2015. They primarily contained race music, comprising various Afri ...

s" chart), and number 6 on the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include rec ...

. The song was

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

Evelyn Knight Evelyn Dawn Knight (born 5 November 1942) is an English woman known for her involvement in the Abscam sting operation of the 1970s, with her ex-husband Mel Weinberg. A character inspired by her was portrayed on film by Amy Adams in '' American ...

for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, with a similar musical

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, and Supreme sued Decca for damages. In the meantime, Watson had a second R&B chart hit with "You Broke Your Promise", which reached number 13. However, Supreme lost their case against Decca, and the company went out of business soon afterwards. She performed as a "rowdy vocalist... ndvigorous pianist who could lay down a mean boogie-woogie blues". In late 1949 she began recording for Decca in a style similar to

Nellie Lutcher Nellie Rose Lutcher (October 15, 1912 – June 8, 2007) was an American R&B and jazz singer and pianist, who gained prominence in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Lutcher was most recognizable for her diction and exaggerated pronunciation a ...

and Julia Lee, backed by saxophonist Jerry Jerome's orchestra and the vocal group Four Hits & A Miss. However, her more conservative records were not hits and she moved in 1953 to

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

, where her recordings were described as "significantly hipper" and featured saxophonist

Sam "The Man" Taylor Samuel Leroy Taylor, Jr. (July 12, 1916 – October 5, 1990), Sam Taylor Biography ''AllMusic'' known as Sam "The Man" Taylor, was an American jazz, rhythm and blues, and blues tenor saxophonist. Taylor was born in Lexington, Tennessee, United St ...

and bassist

Milt Hinton Milton John Hinton (June 23, 1910 – December 19, 2000) was an American double bassist and photographer. Regarded as the Dean of American jazz bass players, his nicknames included "Sporty" from his years in Chicago, "Fump" from his time on the ...

. In the early 1960s, she left the US, and worked in

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

in London, England, through the 1960s and early 1970s. By the 1990s, she was based in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. She died in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in 2003, aged 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Paula 1927 births 2003 deaths 20th-century African-American women singers American rhythm and blues singers Musicians from Mobile, Alabama 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women