- Born
- 1 April 1895Memphis, Tennessee, USA
- Died
- 17 October 1984New York City, USA · aged 89
Alberta Hunter
A blues star of the 1920s, she spent two decades as a nurse before returning to the stage at 82.
Alberta Hunter was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1895. She moved to Chicago as a teenager and worked her way from small clubs to the centre of the city’s blues scene. In 1922 she wrote “Downhearted Blues” with the pianist Lovie Austin; Bessie Smith’s recording made it a major hit the following year.
Hunter also built an international career. In London she appeared opposite Paul Robeson in “Show Boat” in 1928, and she performed across Europe. During the Second World War and the Korean War she entertained American troops on USO tours.
After her mother’s death, Hunter left professional singing and trained as a nurse, giving a younger age to secure a place. She worked at a New York hospital for roughly twenty years. When she retired in 1977, her employers believed she was 70; she was actually 82.
That year she began singing at The Cookery in Greenwich Village. New recordings and enthusiastic audiences brought her a remarkable second career. Hunter kept her private life out of the spotlight, including her long relationship with Lottie Tyler. She died in New York in 1984.