Savannah Churchill (born Savannah Valentine Roberts; August 21, 1920 – April 19, 1974) was an American

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

singer in the 1940s and 1950s. She is best known for her number-one R&B single "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)."

Life and career

Born to Creole parents Emmett Roberts and Hazel Hickman in Colfax, Louisiana, her family moved to

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

when she was three. Growing up, Churchill played violin and sang with the choir at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church and School in Brooklyn. She graduated from Brooklyn's Girls' High School. In the 1930 and 1940 United States Census she and her parents are listed as Negro, as Louisiana Creoles were required to do at the time. Churchill never denied her African American ancestry even as she attained fame, and she appeared in black publications such as ''Jet'' magazine. In 1939, Churchill quit her job as a waitress to pursue a singing career. She began singing at Small's Paradise in Harlem, earning $18 a week. She performed with the Crystal Caraverns in Washington, D.C., and then toured with Edgar Hayes band in 1941. Her first recordings, including the risqué "Fat Meat Is Good Meat", issued on Beacon Records in 1942. These were followed the next year by recordings on Capitol with the

Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...

Orchestra, including her first hit "Hurry, Hurry". In 1945, Churchill signed with Irving Berman's Manor Records, and that year "Daddy Daddy" peaked at No. 3 on the R&B chart. Two years later, reached No. 1 on the R&B chart with "I Want To Be Loved (But Only By You)", which topped the charts for eight weeks. The record was billed as being with vocal group The Sentimentalists, who soon renamed themselves The Four Tunes. Subsequent recordings with The Four Tunes, including "Time Out For Tears" (No. 10 R&B, No. 24 pop) and "I Want To Cry", both in 1948, were also successful. Billed as "Sex-Sational", Churchill performed to much acclaim, and appeared in the movies '' Miracle in Harlem'' (1948) and '' Souls of Sin'' (1949). The films feature African American casts. From 1949, Churchill recorded with Regal,

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

and

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, recording the original version of "Shake A Hand", later a big hit for Faye Adams, and also recording with the

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...

Singers. By 1952, Churchill became one of the top box-office attraction at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

in Harlem, the Regal Theater in Chicago, the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C., and the

Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

in London. She toured widely with backing vocal group The Striders, including a visit to

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

in 1954. In 1953, Churchill released gospel tunes on

. In 1956, she was one of the first artists signed to the

Argo In Greek mythology, the ''Argo'' ( ; ) was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The ship was built with divine aid, and some ancient sources describe her as the first ship to sail the seas. The ''Argo'' carried the Argonauts on their quest fo ...

label, set up as a subsidiary to

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock an ...

. Churchill's career ended in 1956 when, as she was singing on stage in a club, a drunken man fell on top of her from a balcony above, causing severe, debilitating injuries from which she would never fully recover. Although she did some recording in 1960, releasing her debut album ''Time Out For Tears'' on Jamie Records, her health declined greatly until her death from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

in Brooklyn in 1974.

Personal life

Savannah Churchill moved from Louisiana to Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn in New York with her mother Hazel Roberts and step father. She attended St. Peter Claver catholic school and later Girls High School. They had a house on Quincy Street that formerly had a carriage house with a horse stable in the back yard. Churchill later had two children with her first husband, David Churchill, who was killed in a car accident in 1941. On May 19, 1952, Churchill remarried to Jesse Johnson in Franklin, Ohio.

Discography

Chart singles

Filmography

*'' Miracle in Harlem'' (1948) *'' Souls of Sin'' (1949)

References

External links

Savannah Churchill Biography I
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Churchill, Savannah 1920 births 1974 deaths American rhythm and blues singers Manor Records artists 20th-century American singers People from Colfax, Louisiana 20th-century American women singers Capitol Records artists Decca Records artists RCA Victor artists American people of Creole descent 20th-century African-American women singers Singers from Louisiana Musicians from Brooklyn Jamie Records artists African-American Catholics