Ethel Waters

Photo credit flickr.com

Photo credit biography.com

Ethel Waters was born on October 31, 1896, in Chester, Pennsylvania, to a single mother who was a rape victim. She got married when she was thirteen, but she separated from her husband soon after because her husband abused her. She began singing when she was seventeen after her friends convinced her to sing two songs at a club. She had a very sporadic early career, and was very poor because of it. She finally gained popularity in 1920, when she moved to Harlem in New York City. She sangs jazz, blues, ballads, and even Broadway in her later career. She died on September 1, 1977, of cancer and kidney failure. One of her most famous songs was His Eye Is On The Sparrow.
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