Ernestine Anderson

In Loving Memory | Ernestine Anderson enjoyed a career in music that spanned over 6 decades and resulted in the recording of 37 albums. A celebrated jazz artist, Ernestine received four Grammy nominations over the course of her career, in the categories of Best Jazz Vocalist and Best Jazz Vocal Performance. Her contributions to jazz music, family and community will continue to resonate for decades to come.

Born in Houston, Texas, Anderson began singing in church at age three and by age 12; she won a talent contest at the Eldorado Ballroom in Houston. In 1944, Anderson's parents, Joseph and Erma, moved their family to Seattle. She was 16 and entered Garfield High School where she met fellow classmate Quincy Jones. While father Joseph chose Seattle as a place where he thought his daughter would be safe from the temptations of the jazz life, what Ernestine found was a lively Jackson Street Music scene. She would soon be lighting the scene with her voice joining Bumps Blackwell, Buddy Catlett, and Quincy.

Ernestine became a noted fixture in Seattle's jazz scene and would soon take her act on the road as a member of the Johnny Otis Band. By 1948, Ernestine recorded her first single, K.C. Lover/Good Lovin Babe. After a stint with the Otis Band, Ernestine returned to Seattle in 1952, auditioned for and got a gig to sing with Lionel Hampton, touring and performing with him and becoming one of the nation's preeminent vocal jazz stylists. Her early career also included stints with Russell Jacquet, Shifty Henry, Eddie Heywood, Harry Arnold, Gigi Gryce, Clifford "King" Solomon, Art Farmer, Billy Taylor, Sonny Booker, and a host of others.

Quincy Jones described Ernestine's voice as "honey at dusk," and the world got a taste of her honey as she performed in the first and many subsequent Monterey Jazz Festivals, performed at Carnegie Hall, at the White House for the first Inauguration of Dwight Eisenhower, The Kennedy Center, toured Europe with Rolf Ericson, living and performing in London, Los Angeles, New York, and recording with the top artists of the time. In 1956, Ernestine's first album, Hot Cargo was released. Time Magazine described Anderson as possessing a "voice, sweet and strong above the rhythm section, that curls around the lyrics like a husky caress." The magazine named her "the best kept jazz secret in the land."

Devoted to her family and especially her twin sister Josephine, Ernestine settled back home in Seattle, in 1974. She continued to tour and for many years was a featured performer at the Bellevue Jazz Festival and for numerous local benefits. She also held court for many years as the New Year's Eve feature at Seattle's Jazz Alley and continued to record. Between 1977 and 1996, Ernestine recorded 15 albums. In 1999, Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Brian Lanker selected Ernestine as one of only 75 women to be featured in his book, I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America, alongside Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Sarah Vaughn, Oprah Winfrey and others.

Ernestine's contributions to her Seattle community were enormous. Each year, she performed dozens of benefits, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for music programs at Roosevelt High School, Garfield High School, Washington Middle School, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, the YWCA, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and other local charities. Ernestine was a huge artist and an equally large philanthropist who believed in helping others, especially focused on causes that served children. Commemorating her generous spirit and her music contributions, the Low Income Housing Institute in 2013 opened Ernestine Anderson Place for homeless and low-income seniors on Jackson Street, where Ernestine made her early mark on Seattle.

Her mother Erma, her father Joseph, her twin sister Josephine, and her great grandson Dwone Anderson-Young preceded Ernestine in death. She is survived by her three children, Shelley Young, Michael Young, and Yvonne Anderson-Stover, 8 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren, along with a host of friends, fans, and admirers the world over.

Words of comfort may be expressed for Ernestine Anderson's friends and family by clicking on the guestbook link to the right. | Public memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 1:00pm at the Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine Street, Seattle, Washington. Follow this link for more information:

http://www.stgpresents.org/paramount/calendar/eventdetail/2645/-/