Anderson, Ivie (Marie) [Johnson, Ivie (Marie); Ivy]

Extract

[Johnson, Ivie (Marie); Ivy]

(b Gilroy, CA, July 10, 1905; d Los Angeles, CA, Dec 28, 1949). American jazz singer. She traveled abroad as Ivie Marie Johnson on two occasions; it is unknown whether Johnson was her married name or her given name at birth. She studied singing at a local convent and then for two years with Sara Ritt in Washington, DC. After returning to California, she worked with Curtis Mosby, Paul Howard, and Sonny Clay, and sang and danced in the vaudeville revues Fanchon and Marco and Shuffle Along. She toured Australia with Clay in 1928 before organizing her own show in the United States. After Duke Ellington heard her perform with Earl Hines, she worked with him from February 1931. Ellington thought highly of Anderson, and many critics consider her to be the finest singer to work in Ellington’s band. Certainly her vivacious sense of rhythm and dramatic delivery mark several noted Ellington recordings of the 1930s and early 1940s, including “It don’t mean a thing” (...