Mabel Mercer
Mabel Mercer (3 February 1900 – 20 April 1984)[1] was an English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret. She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris, owned by the hostess Bricktop, and performed in such clubs as Le Ruban Bleu, Tony's, the RSVP, the Carlyle, the St. Regis Hotel, and eventually her own room, the Byline Club. Among those who frequently attended Mercer's shows was Frank Sinatra, who made no secret of his emulating her phrasing and story-telling techniques.
Mabel Mercer
3 February 1900
Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England
20 April 1984 (aged 84)
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
Singer
Early life[edit]
Mabel Mercer was born on 3 February 1900 in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England.[2] Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was an itinerant black American musician,[2] who died before she was born.[3] At the age of 14, she left her convent school in Manchester, and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements.[3] Her precise vocal styling was believed to be the result of diction training while a student at the convent.[4]
Career[edit]
In 1928, she was an unknown member of the black chorus in the London production of Show Boat,[2] but she had become the toast of Paris by the 1930s, with admirers who included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.[5]
When World War II broke out, she traveled to America to sing in the finest supper clubs in New York.[5] Mercer's earliest recordings were selections from Porgy and Bess,[2] released in 1942 on the elite Liberty Music Shops label, featuring piano accompaniment by Cy Walter.
But it wasn't until the following decade that she began recording more consistently. The years 1952 to 1954 saw the release of her first full-length albums, Songs by Mabel Mercer, volumes 1-3. By 1960, four more LPs had followed. In the late 1960s, she gave two concerts with Bobby Short at Town Hall in New York City.[1] Both were released by Atlantic Records: Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short at Town Hall, in 1968, (Atlantic SD 2-604) and Mabel Mercer & Bobby Short Second Town Hall Concert, in 1969 (Atlantic SD 2-605).[2] In 1969, she made two appearances on the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
Her original and reissued albums are collector's items. Atlantic Records reissued four of her early LPs in a boxed set in 1975, in honor of her 75th birthday. She was awarded Stereo Review Magazine's first Award for Merit, for her lifetime achievement and for "outstanding contributions to the quality of American musical life." This award was officially renamed the Mabel Mercer Award in 1984.
Honours[edit]
In January 1981, she was honoured by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York with "An American Cabaret," the only musical event of its kind at that point in the museum's history. Mercer was the first guest on Eileen Farrell's new program on National Public Radio featuring great popular singers.
Mercer received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the US's highest civilian medal, in 1983.[1] When President Ronald Reagan presented it to her in a ceremony at the White House, he called her "a singer's singer" and "a living testament to the artfulness of the American song".
She also received two honorary Doctor of Music degrees: one from Boston's Berklee College of Music, the other from the New England Conservatory of Music.[2]
Death[edit]
Mercer died on 20 April 1984, aged 84, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,[1] and is buried at Red Rock Cemetery near Chatham, New York.[6]
The Mabel Mercer Foundation[edit]
In 1985, the Mabel Mercer Foundation was established with the efforts of her long-time friend and professional associate Donald F. Smith. This not-for-profit arts organization was formed to keep Mercer's memory alive, and to contribute to the art of cabaret performing by supporting artists and providing information resources. Its international activities include the debut of the London Cabaret Convention in 2004. The Foundation produced Noël Coward's 100th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. It also has a Young Person's Series to introduce young people to The Great American Songbook of popular classics.