Radio & Recording Rarities, Volume 29
MABEL MERCER (1900–1984): An English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret.
Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was a black American jazz musician Mabel never knew. At 14, she left her convent school in Manchester and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements. By the 1930s, she was the toast of Paris, with admirers including Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.
She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris 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.
Frank Sinatra frequently attended Mercer's shows and made no secret of his emulating her phrasing and story-telling techniques.
PORTIA NELSON: In the 1950s, her singing was he...
Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was a black American jazz musician Mabel never knew. At 14, she left her convent school in Manchester and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements. By the 1930s, she was the toast of Paris, with admirers including Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.
She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris 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.
Frank Sinatra frequently attended Mercer's shows and made no secret of his emulating her phrasing and story-telling techniques.
PORTIA NELSON: In the 1950s, her singing was he...
