Dee Dee Bridgewater (née Denise Garrett, May 27, 1950) is 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 majo ...

singer and actress. She is a three-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a Tony Award-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of National Public Radio's syndicated radio show ''JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater''. She is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

Goodwill Ambassador for the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Biography

Born Denise Eileen Garrett in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

, she was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, she was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a Rock and R&B trio, singing in clubs in

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. At 18, she studied at Michigan State University before she went to the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. With the school's jazz band, she toured the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1969. The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, where Cecil played in

Horace Silver Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver (September 2, 1928 – June 18, 2014) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, particularly in the hard bop style that he helped pioneer in the 1950s. After playing tenor saxophone and piano at sc ...

's band. In the early 1970s, Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra as lead vocalist. This marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie,

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

, Max Roach, Rahsaan Roland Kirk,

Wayne Garfield Wayne K. Garfield (January 21, 1952 - September 9, 2022) was an American composer, collaborating songwriter, vocalist, social entrepreneur, community activist, and producer, who was born in 1952 in New York City. He co-founded of the music coll ...

, and others. She performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1973. In 1974, her first solo album, entitled ''Afro Blue'', appeared, and she performed on Broadway in the

musical Musical is the adjective of music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...

'' The Wiz''. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a Tony Award in 1975 as "Best Featured Actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. Ddbridg014

She subsequently appeared in several other stage productions. After touring

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

in 1984 with the musical '' Sophisticated Ladies'', she moved to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

in 1986. The same year saw her in ''Lady Day,'' as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

, for which role she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award, as well as recording the song "''Precious Thing"'' with Ray Charles, featured on her album '' Victim of Love''. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she returned from the world of Pop and

Contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip hop music, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive Recor ...

to Jazz. She performed at the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and four years later, she finally collaborated with

, whom she had long admired, and released the album '' Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver''. Performed also at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (1996). Her 1997 tribute album ''

Dear Ella ''Dear Ella'' is a 1997 studio album by Dee Dee Bridgewater, recorded in tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, who had died the previous year. For ''Dear Ella'', Bridgewater won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Slide Hampton won the Gramm ...

'' won her the 1998

Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality works (songs or albums) in the vocal jaz ...

, and the 1998 album '' Live at Yoshi's'' was also worth a Grammy nomination. Performed again at the Monterey Jazz Festival (1998). She has also explored on '' This Is New'' (2002) the songs of

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

, and, on her next album ''

J'ai deux amours ''J'ai deux amours'' is an album by Dee Dee Bridgewater. This was Bridgewater's first album of French music; she lived in France for more than two decades and speaks French. Reception Dave Gelly of ''The Guardian'' stated, "'J'ai deux amours' w ...

'' (2005), the French Classics. Hancock Bridgewater

Her album '' Red Earth'', released in 2007, features Africa-inspired themes and contributions by numerous musicians from

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Ma ...

. Performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (2007). On December 8, 2007, she performed with the

Terence Blanchard Terence Oliver Blanchard (born March 13, 1962) is an American trumpeter and composer. He started his career in 1982 as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, then The Jazz Messengers. He has composed more than forty film scores and performed ...

Quintet at the

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, D.C. She tours frequently, including overseas gigs around the world. October 16, 2009 found her opening the Shanghai JZ Jazz Festival, in which she sang tunes associated with

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, i ...

, along with Ellington compositions and other jazz standards. As a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, Bridgewater continues to appeal for international solidarity to finance global grassroots projects in the fight against world hunger. Awarded Honorary Doctorates from

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

and

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cou ...

, Bridgewater makes a concerted effort to mentor and nurture young artists. In April 2017, Bridgewater was the recipient of an NEA Jazz Masters Award with honors bestowed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and in 2018 was awarded the 2018 Maria Fisher Founder's Award by the Thelonious Monk/Hancock Institute of Jazz. She is currently on tour worldwide in support of her latest CD, “'' Memphis...Yes, I'm Ready''”.

Philanthropy

Bridgewater has a long history of philanthropy and advocacy. Her appointment as UN Goodwill Ambassador to the FAO, as well as the ASCAP Foundation Champion Award, along with her ongoing work with UNESCO for World Jazz Day coupled with her recognition as a Doris Duke Artist set in motion her founding of The Woodshed Network. Launched in 2019, The Woodshed Network was conceived as a program for Women in Jazz, to provide professional support and accelerate careers through mentorship, knowledge sharing and community interaction. The program is a collaboration between Dee Dee Bridgewater as Artistic Director, (DDB Productions + DDB Records), Tulani Bridgewater-Kowalski as Associate Artistic Director (Bridgewater Artists Management), and 651 ARTS with funding by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The first year's alumna include Erinn Alexis (sax),

Lakecia Benjamin Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist. Benjamin was born and raised in New York City. She grew up in a Dominican neighborhood in Washington Heights, Manhattan and played merengue, salsa, and Latin music. As a tourin ...

(sax), Darynn Dean (vocals), Sarah Hanahan (sax), Kennedy (vocals), Amina Scott (bass), and Sequoia Snyder (piano). Program mentors included Sheila Jordan, Arthel Neville, Marilyn Rosen (Marilyn Rosen Presents), Alisse Kingsley (Muse Media Public Relations), Maureen McFadden (DL Media), Jett Galindo (The Bakery LA), Shirazette Tinnin, Fanny Delsol (Motema), Simma Levine (NJ PAC), Robin Tomchin (Motema), Stacie Negas (Sony Masterworks), and Lisa Jefferson (LRJ Account Management) with Bridgewater-Kowalski serving as moderator.

Acting

Dee Dee had appeared in such films as the 1979 film '' The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh'' and the 1984 film '' The Brother from Another Planet''. She has made a guest appearance in the hit sitcom '' Benson'' and the hit sci-fi fantasy TV series '' Highlander: The Series''. Film and Television credits include: *'' Everybody Rides the Carousel'', Stage 7, 1976 *'' The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh'' as Brandy, 1979 *'' Benson'' as Michelle, 1980 *'' Another Life'' as Samantha Marshall, 1982 *''

Night Partners ''Night Partners'' is a 1983 American TV movie by director Noel Nosseck starring Yvette Mimieux and Diana Canova Diana Canova (born June 1, 1953) is an American actress, director, and professor. She is best known for her role as Corinne Tate ...

'' as Gloria, 1983 *'' The Wiz'' as Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (TV version of Broadway Musical), 1983 *'' The Brother from Another Planet'' as Malverne Davis, 1984 *'' Highlander: The Series'' as Carolyn Lamb in "The Beast Below" (Season 1, Ep.16), 1993 *"Falstaff on the Moon" (short film), 1993 *''Corps plongés'' (It's Not About Love) as "la femme au verre du lait", 1998 *''

Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure ''Go West! A Lucky Luke Adventure'' (french: Tous à l'Ouest: Une Aventure de Lucky Luke) is a 2007 French animated western comedy film directed by Olivier Jean-Marie from a screenplay penned by Jean-Marie and Jean-François Henry with the kind ...

'' as Molly, 2007

Personal life

Bridgewater is the mother to three children, Tulani Bridgewater (from her marriage to Cecil Bridgewater), China Moses (from her marriage to theater, film and television director

Gilbert Moses Gilbert Moses III (August 20, 1942 – April 15, 1995) was an American director. He was also known for his work in the Civil Rights movement, as a staff member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and founder of the touring ...

) and Gabriel Durand (from her last marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand). Her eldest daughter, Tulani Bridgewater, attended the Mirman School for Gifted Children in Los Angeles, CA. She went on to graduate from the Ecole Active Bilingue in Paris, France at age 16, going on to graduate from Vassar College. She serves as Bridgewater's manager under her firm Bridgewater Artists Management and runs Bridgewater's production company and record label (DDB Productions, Inc. And DDB Records). Daughter China Moses is an accomplished singer, songwriter, producer, radio host and MTV VJ (France). Her critically acclaimed albums have earned her an international reputation as heir to Bridgewater's legacy. Moses tours worldwide, occasionally sharing the bill with Bridgewater.

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

The

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

s are awarded annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Bridgewater has won two Grammys with eight nominations.

Other accolades

* First American to be inducted into the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie * Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Award (France) * Tony Award, Best Featured Actress in a Musical, '' The Wiz'', 1975 * Laurence Olivier Award Nomination, Best Actress in a Musical, “Lady Day”, 1987 * AUDELCO Award, Outstanding Performance in a Musical-Female, ''LADY DAY'', 2014 * ASCAP Foundation Champion Award, 2017 * NEA Jazz Masters, 2017 *

Doris Duke Performing Artist Award The Doris Duke Artist Award is undertaken by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and designed to "empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering multi-year, unrestricted funding as a response to financial and funding challenges both unique to ...

, 2018 *Thelonious Monk Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Maria Fisher Founder's Award, 2018 * - A Life for Jazz Award, Stuttgart Jazz Open, 2019 * Memphis Music Hall of Fame, 2019

Discography

As guest * Frank Foster – '' The Loud Minority'' ( Mainstream, 1972) * Stanley Clarke - ''

Children of Forever ''Children of Forever'' is the debut album by jazz fusion bassist Stanley Clarke. It was recorded in December 1972, and was released in 1973 by Polydor Records. On the album, Clarke is joined by vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Andy Bey, flutist A ...

'' ( Polydor, 1973) * Roy Ayers – '' Coffy'' (Polydor, 1973) – as Denise Bridgewater * Buddy Terry – '' Lean on Him'' (Mainstream, 1973) * Norman Connors – ''Love from the Sun'' ( Buddah, 1974) * Cecil McBee – ''

Mutima ''Mutima'' is the debut album led by bassist Cecil McBee recorded in 1974 and first released on the Strata-East label.Strata-East Strata-East Records is an American record company and label specialising in jazz founded in 1971 by Charles Tolliver and Stanley Cowell with the release of their first recording ''Music Inc.'' The label released over 50 albums in the 1970s. Many ...

, 1974) * Charles Sullivan – ''

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...

'' (Strata-East, 1974) * Carlos Garnett — '' Black Love'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

, 1974) * Stanley Clarke – ''I Wanna Play for You'' ( Nemperor, 1979) *

Hollywood Bowl Orchestra The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (HBO) is a symphony orchestra which is managed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and plays the vast majority of its performances at the Hollywood Bowl. John Mauceri led the orchestra from its founding in 1990 ...

– ''Prelude to a Kiss: The Duke Ellington Album'' ( Philips Classics, 1996) * Ray Brown — '' Some of My Best Friends Are...Singers'' ( Telarc, 1998) * BWB – ''Groovin ( Warner Bros., 2002) * Christian McBride – '' Conversations with Christian'' ( Mack Avenue, 2011) Film soundtrack *'' Coffy'' (Dir.

Jack Hill Jack Hill (born January 28, 1933) is an American film director in the exploitation film genre. Several of Hill's later films have been characterized as feminist works. Early life Hill was born in Los Angeles, California. His mother, Mildred (n� ...

, 1973) — performer: "Coffy Baby", "Coffy Is the Color (Main Title)" - as Denise Bridgewater *''

Try This One for Size ''Try this One for Size'' (also known as ''Sauf votre respect'') is a 1989 French film directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Michael Brandon and David Carradine. It is based on a 1980 novel of the same name by James Hadley Chase. Premise An insur ...

'' (Dir. Guy Hamilton, 1989) *'' The Brother from Another Planet'' (Dir. John Sayles, 1984) — performer: "Getaway", "Boss of the Block" *''Présumé dangereux'' (Dir. Georges Lautner, 1990) — performer: "Turning Round" *''

La Vengeance d'une Blonde ''La Vengeance d'une blonde'' is a 1994 French comedy film directed by Jeannot Szwarc. Plot Gérard Breha is journalist on a Breton regional channel. He host, happy, his last Show, as he has been named host to the 23 hours newsreader on the larg ...

'' (Dir. Jeannot Szwarc, 1994) - performer with Philip Bailey: "

People and Places ''People and Places'' is a Canadian children's television series which aired on CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

" *'' Monster-in-Law'' (Dir. Robert Luketic, 2005) — performer: "Into My Soul" *'' Elsa & Fred'' (Dir. Michael Radford, 2014) — performer: "Step 1"

References

External links

* – official site * * *
Dee Dee Bridgewater
interview at Rockwired.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgewater, Dee Dee 1950 births Living people 20th-century African-American women singers African-American jazz musicians American women jazz singers American jazz singers Jazz musicians from Michigan Musicians from Flint, Michigan Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee American expatriates in France Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Grammy Award winners Michigan State University alumni Sanremo Music Festival winners Tony Award winners Traditional pop music singers Singers from Michigan 21st-century American women singers Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Tennessee Record producers from Tennessee Record producers from Michigan African-American actresses Verve Records artists Food and Agriculture Organization American stage actresses 21st-century American singers African-American Catholics 21st-century African-American women singers Okeh Records artists