Hadda Brooks

Hadda Brooks ( born October 29, 1916 in Los Angeles as Hattie L. Hapgood, † November 21, 2002 ibid ) was an American rhythm and blues and jazz pianist, singer and composer.

Life and work

Hadda Brooks, who was Queen Of The Boogie called, took in its sixtieth year career blues to boogie woogie, jazz, torch songs and R & B.

She grew up in Boyle Heights on in the greater Los Angeles; her mother was a doctor, her father Deputy Sheriff. Major influence on their musical development had her grandfather Samuel Alexander Hopgood (1857-1944), who introduced her to the world of theater and the opera. Later, she took lessons in classical music at the Italian piano teacher Florence Bruni, with whom she worked 20 years. After studying at the University of Chicago, she returned to Los Angeles and met the vaudeville entertainer and singer Bert Williams know.

The early 40s began equipped with a doctorate in music Brooks her professional career as a pianist, as she found work in a tap dance studio, which belonged to the choreographers and dancers Willie Covan. She has worked with movie stars such as Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Shirley Temple. During this time, Brooks was briefly married to Earl " Shug " Morrison, who belonged to the Harlem Globetrotters, and died after just one year.

In 1945, she was asked by Jules Bihari to write a boogie within a week. "If you hinkriegst a boogie, my label has been in business, otherwise I lose $ 800. " In September 1945, they released their first 78's, her composition " Swingin 'the Boogie"; the pianist, who was advertised as Queen of the Boogie, stylistically oriented in their material from ballads and boogie -woogie to artists such as Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis. " Swingin 'the Boogie", which she had Jules Bihari's R & B label Modern Records recorded, became a regional hit; her best-known song was finally reached the "Out of the Blue" in the R & B Top Ten. Jules Bihari gave her the stage name Hadda Brooks.

Benny Goodman recommended the pianist to a fellow director, who brought her in the film Out of the Blue (1947). Encouraged by Charlie Barnet, Brooks took in 1947 as a singer, " You Will not Let Me Go " on; it was her first vocal number on record. With the instrumental track That's My Desire, she provided the Modern label with a fourth one of the highest rankings in the rhythm & blues charts in May 1947. They had another hit in 1948 with the "Boogie Woogie Blues". As an accompanying pianist she was heard around 1950, even when shooting from Smokey Hogg ( " The Way You Treat Me ").

Usually she starred in films, the role of the lounge pianist and in 1950 she was in a lonely place alongside Humphrey Bogart an appearance in City of Illusions (1952 ) with Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas. Brooks was the first African American who in 1957 got his own TV show, The Hadda Brooks Show, a mixture ais discussions and a musical entertainment show that aired in Los Angeles on KCOP - TV. Theme song of her show was the song " That's My Desire "; Borrks occurred in a total of 26 half-hour episodes of the show.

In the 1970s, she came for night club and festival appearances in Europe, at this time they occurred only rarely in the United States. It was not until the late 90s, she played again regularly in nightclubs in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City.

1993 Brooks was awarded the Prestigious Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation by Bonnie Raitt at a ceremony at the Hollywood Palace. In 1995 she had the Jack Nicholson movie The Crossing Guard - It happened on the street by Sean Penn made ​​an appearance with the song " Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere ". Another film appearance was three years later in The Thirteenth Floor (1999). She was most recently seen in John John in the Sky ( 2000).

On their 1996 album Time What caused When she was by guitarist Al Viola, Eugene Wright ( bass) and Richard Dodd (cello) accompanied; for the album, she composed three songs " You Go Your Way ," " I'll Go Crazy" and " Mama's Blues". In her last years she performed in nightclubs such as Johnny Depp's Viper Room, on at New York's Algonquin Room in Hollywood and Goldfinger 's and Cinegrill. Your eightieth birthday was celebrated in Depp's Viper Room with guests like Uma Thurman and Jack Nicholson.

In 2000, Brooks was honored by the Los Angeles Music Awards with the " Lifetime Achievement Award".

She died in November 2002 at the age of 86 years at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles following heart surgery.

Published in 2007 a ​​72- minute documentary, Queen of the Boogie, directed by Austin Young and Barry Pett, which was presented at the Los Angeles Silver Lake Film Festival.

Among her best-known songs included: " Swingin 'the Boogie ", " That's My Desire ", " Romance in the Dark ," " Do not Take Your Love From Me" and " Say It with a Kiss ".

Disco Graphical Notes

• Romance in the Dark ( Ace, 2002)
• I've Got News for You (Virgin, 1999)
• When Time Was (Virgin, 1996)
• I've Got News for You (Virgin, 1999)
• Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere (DRG, 1994)
• Sings & Swings ( Crown, 1963)
• Boogie ( Crown, 1958)
• Femme Fatale (Modern, 1956)

Hits

Listed are all the titles that were listed in the U.S. charts. Year of publication, title, catalog number, the highest placement.