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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

singer and actress. She is a three-time

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning singer-songwriter, as well as a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning stage actress. For 23 years, she was the host of

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's syndicated radio show ''JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater''. She is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Goodwill Ambassador for the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

Biography

Born Denise Eileen Garrett to an

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

family in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

, she was raised

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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 16, she was a member of a Rock and R&B trio, singing in clubs in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. At 18, she studied at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

, before attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. With the school's jazz band, she toured the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, where Cecil played in Horace Silver'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 John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach,

Rahsaan Roland Kirk Rahsaan Roland Kirk (born Ronald Theodore Kirk; August 7, 1935Kernfeld, Barry.Kirk, Roland" ''The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', 2nd ed. Ed. Barry Kernfeld. ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Grove Music Online''. ''Grove Dictionary of M ...

, Wayne Garfield, 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. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

'' The Wiz''. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a

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

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

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 made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

, 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, originating from African Americans, African-American musicians in the 1980s that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip-hop, ...

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 Horace Silver, whom she had long admired, and released the album '' Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver''. She also performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (1996). Her 1997 tribute album '' Dear Ella'' won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album '' Live at Yoshi's'' was also worth a Grammy nomination. She performed again at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1998. She has also explored on '' This Is New'' (2002) the songs of Kurt Weill, and, on her next album '' J'ai deux amours'' (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, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

. She performed at the San Francisco Jazz Festival (2007). On December 8, 2007, she performed with the Terence Blanchard Quintet at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 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, 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. She's also been bestowed with honorary doctorates from the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

and the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

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. Bridgewater was also, in November 2019, inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame.

Philanthropy

Bridgewater has a long history of philanthropy and advocacy. Her appointment as UN Goodwill Ambassador to the

FAO The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition ...

, 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 Co-Artistic Director & Program Curator (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 (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 Bridgewater has 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'' 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'' 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) and Gabriel Durand (from her last marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand). Tulani, her eldest daughter, attended the Mirman School for Gifted Children in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California. 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). Bridgewater's 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 her mother's legacy. Moses also tours worldwide, occasionally sharing the bill with Bridgewater.

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

The

s are awarded annually by the

National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc. (NARAS), doing business as The Recording Academy, is an American Learned society, learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is widely kno ...

. Bridgewater has won two Grammys with eight nominations.

Other accolades

* First American to be inducted into the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie * Officier dans l’ordre de la Légion d’Honneur Award (France), 25th of April 2025, on board French warship Mistral at New Orleans * Commandeur dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Award (France) *

, 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, 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'' ( 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'' ( Strata-East, 1974) * Charles Sullivan – '' Genesis'' (Strata-East, 1974) * Carlos Garnett — '' Black Love'' (

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

, 1974) * Stanley Clarke – ''I Wanna Play for You'' ( Nemperor, 1979) * Hollywood Bowl Orchestra – ''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, 1973) — performer: "Coffy Baby", "Coffy Is the Color (Main Title)" – as Denise Bridgewater *'' Try This One for Size'' (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'' (dir. Jeannot Szwarc, 1994) – performer with Philip Bailey: " People and Places" *'' 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 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers African-American actresses African-American jazz musicians American expatriates in France American jazz singers American stage actresses American women jazz singers Food and Agriculture Organization officials Grammy Award winners Jazz musicians from Michigan Jazz musicians from New York (state) Jazz musicians from Tennessee Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite Michigan State University alumni Musicians from Flint, Michigan Singers from Memphis, Tennessee Okeh Records artists Record producers from Michigan Record producers from Tennessee Sanremo Music Festival winners Singers from Michigan Tony Award winners Traditional pop music singers Verve Records artists NEA Jazz Masters