Lurlean Hunter (December 1, 1919 – March 11, 1983) was an American

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typical ...

singer.

Early years

Born in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establish ...

, Hunter was taken to Chicago when she was two months old. She attended Englewood High School in Chicago.

Career

Hunter's first paid singing performance came when she appeared with Red Saunders and his orchestra at

Club DeLisa The Club DeLisa, also written Delisa or De Lisa, was an African-American nightclub and music venue in Chicago, Illinois. Located at 5521 South State Street (State Street and Garfield Avenue, on the South Side), it was possibly the most prestigious ...

on Chicago's South Side. She was signed by

Discovery Records Discovery Records was a United States-based record company and label known for its recordings of jazz music. Discovery was founded in 1948 by jazz fan and promoter Albert Marx. The record label eventually would record jazz notables such as Dizzy ...

in 1950. In 1951, Hunter was a featured performer with George Shearing and his quintet at Birdland in New York City. Later that year, she was among a group of "rising young stars of jazz" presented at the Streamliner night club in Chicago. Other Chicago venues at which she performed included the Club Silhouette and the Cloister Inn, where an initial four-week booking turned into a 2.5-year stay. Her work in other cities included singing at the Jazz Villa in St. Louis, the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, and the Circus Lounge in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. In 1961, Hunter began recording for

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, with "Blue and Sentimental" as her first album for that label. She also recorded for RCA Victor. In 1963, Hunter became the first African-American performer hired by WBBM radio in Chicago. After a successful on-air audition, she became a member of the staff of the all-live ''Music Wagon Show''. On August 2, 1968,

National Educational Television National Educational Television (NET) was an American educational broadcast television network owned by the Ford Foundation and later co-owned by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It operated from May 16, 1954 to October 4, 1970, and wa ...

jazz broadcast featured Hunter, accompanied by the

Vernel Fournier Vernel Anthony Fournier (July 30, 1928 – November 4, 2000) and, from 1975, known as Amir Rushdan, was an American jazz drummer probably best known for his work with Ahmad Jamal from 1956 to 1962. Biography Fournier was born in New Orleans ...

Trio, performing "ballads and blues, old and new". Hunter made commercials for products such as peas and telephone directories.

"Lonesome Gal" court case

In 1958, radio disc jockey Jean King, who broadcast using the name "Lonesome Girl," sued RCA Record Division after it used Lurlean Hunter's image and name on the cover of its "Lonesome Gal" record album (LPM-1151, 1956). The suit in United States District Court, Southern District of California, alleged "unfair competition, infringement of trade name, unfair business practices, unjust enrichment and invasion of the right of privacy." The court acknowledged that the album contained the song "Lonesome Gal", and that the use of one song's title for an album's title was common practice in the recording industry. However, it ruled in King's favor on the basis that she was the first person to "adopt and establish the name Lonesome Gal as a personality" and that name was exclusively associated with her. Damages of $22,500 were awarded to King, and the company was ordered to destroy all material containing Hunter's likeness in conjunction with "Lonesome Gal".

Personal life

On December 7, 1952, Hunter married Charles Taylor, a shoe salesman. She later married Greg Tischler, who also was her manager.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Lurlean 20th-century American women singers American women jazz singers American jazz singers Singers from Mississippi 1919 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American singers