Favourite Songs Of Ethel Waters CD

This U.K. best-of features the versatile 20th-century singer and actress Ethel Waters, who is heard here with 1930s and '40s recordings of some of her most popular pieces. Among the tracks are the title song from the hit musical CABIN IN THE SKY, in which she starred in both theater and movie versions; W.C. Handy's "St Louis Blues," which she was reputed to have been the first to perform; and a show-stopping version of Irving Berlin's "Supper Time."

The daughter of a thirteen-year-old who’d been raped, Ethel Waters was brought up in poverty in a Philadelphia slum by her Grandmother and was herself married for the first time by the time she was twelve. To support herself, she took on domestic work and, moving to New York, began working in a Harlem club “Edmond’s Cellar” in 1919. She was soon recording and toured with Fletcher Henderson.

Liner Note Author: Roy Oakshott.

Personnel: Ethel Waters (vocals); Ethel Waters; Reginald Beane (piano); J.C. Heard & Orchestra.

Audio Remasterer: Robin Cherry.