Sarah Vaughan

Known as one of the most influential artists in jazz. Sarah Lois Vaughan is an unforgettable legend. Sarah Vaughan was born March 27, 1924, in Newark, NJ, to Ashbury and Ada Vaughan, a carpenter and a laundress. Despite their occupations, Sarah’s parents’ were also musicians in their spare time. Sarah’s musical journey began with her parents love for music.

Influenced by her mother, Sarah began taking piano at age seven and organ at age eight. Like most African Americans, Sarah’s musical ability was nurtured and cultivated in the black church. The Vaughan family attended the Mount Zion Baptist Church where Sarah was the church organist. Sarah’s love for music grew stronger during the early years of her life as she listened to artists such as Count Basie and Erskine Hawkins. She later attended East Side Music & Arts High School in Newark, NJ (Website: A Tribute …).

By the time Sarah was an adolescent, she had already began frequenting local clubs and theaters. It was at this time that she began to travel to Harlem to frequent the Savoy Ballroom and the Apollo Theatre (Contemporary). In 1942, Sarah participated in the Apollo Amateur N

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

In 1949, Sarah signed a five-year contract with Columbia Records. com/celebrity/celeb_pages/SarahVaughan. Throughout her career Sarah made many accomplishments that will forever be remembered as legendary accomplishments such as: a 1981 Emmy Award, for individual achievement, a 1982 Grammy Award for best jazz vocalist, a Hollywood Walk of Fame Star, a 1989 Grammy Award, for Lifetime Achievement, she was inducted into the Jazz hall of Fame in 1990 (Contemporary). Later Sarah married trumpeter, George Treadwell, who later became her manager.

“She was that rare combination of beautifully controlled tone and vibrato - she had an ear for the chord structure of songs, enabling her to change or inflect the melody as an instrumentalist might. J Johnson just to name a few (Contemporary). She had gained an opportunity to join the ranks of performers who preceded her and to make a career out of that opportunity. During her stay with the Earl Hines band, of which she was the only female member, Sarah had the opportunity to sing with some of jazz music’s greatest performers such as; Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, and J. As her manager Treadwell did not make good choices and almost cost Sarah her career. Sarah later sang with the John Kirby Combo. Under the direction of writer and pianist Leonard Feather Sarah’s first record scored rave reviews. html)

With a gift such as hers, Sarah was destined for super star status. Whitney Balliett describes Sarah’s talent in the July, 1977 issue of the New Yorker Magazine :

"Her voice, which has four octaves and out-classes that of most operatic sopranos, came in unequal parts, a rich middle section, a little-girl high register, and a sometimes vulgar, an echoing bottom range.

Approximate Word count = 800
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.