Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan, born March 27, 1924, was very talented and everyone knew this. The word was passed along so even those that never went to church knew how gifted she was. The word got around to Newark’s Little Jimmy Scott, a jazz singer himself. He remembered the gossip being that Sarah Vaughan could become another Marian Anderson.

Because Sarah grew up hearing her mother sing in the church choir, it seemed only natural for her to follow her mothers’ footsteps and become involved with the musical life of the church. By October of 1942, 18 year old Sarah had already been playing the organ for years for choir rehearsals on Saturday mornings and for Sunday services. In addition to weekend services, she also played during the week for the children of the congregation. Sarah’s parents found themselves in Newark, New Jersey after migrating from Virginia during the First World War. They also found that the church was growing because of the waves of people migrating from the south.

It started with trumpet player, Jabbo Smith, who recalls encouraging young Sarah to try to win an amateur night contest at the Apollo. For Sarah to try to win the contest was natural. She knew of many professional musicians who tried for prizes there and won. Before deciding she would perform on the Apollo stage herself, she encouraged Doris Robinson to compete and Sarah would accompany her on the piano. As a result, Doris won second place and split the money with Vaughan fifty-fifty. On an October night in 1942, Sarah “went on a dare” to the Apollo on the condition that her friends would be in the audience to cheer her on. Sarah Vaughan arrived so late on the night she was supposed to perform that Ralf Cooper, Sr., master of ceremonies, didn’t want her to sing. He eventually changed his mind and gave her a chance. Although she forgot to kiss “the tree of hope” everyone cheered her on when she began to sing “Body and Soul”. Sarah impressed Cooper with her “in-depth soul and her ability to vocalize changes around the melody”. She won the first place prize of ten dollars that night and a promise of a week’s engagement at the theater sometime in the near future. As the days went on and winter went by it seemed as though the management at Apollo forgot about her. She received the call in the spring of 1943. With Ella Fitzgerald as the headliner, crowds flooded the theater. Billy Eckstine decided to attend the show to see Ella and the rest of the show. “When he heard Sarah sing, he couldn’t believe his ears.” “It was just something different. Something you hadn’t heard before,” he said. Sarah recalls Ella Fitzgerald seeing the many agents crowding around her and “stopping me from singing myself away to all the agents hanging around”. Soon after, the two became friends.

Eckstine is often credited with introducing Sarah to Earl Hines. Hines immediately decided to replace Madeline Green, his current female vocalist, with Sarah. He introduced himself backstage after the show and asked her if she would like to work in his band. She seized the opportunity. As a result, Sarah Vaughan, at the age of nineteen, began her career in show business. “She had entered the jazz world so easily and so quickly that it took her some time to get used to the idea and develop from a shy teenager into a confident performer.”

Because Eckstine formed his own band and asked her to join, Sarah only spent a year with Earl Hines’ band. She worked with Dizzy Gillespie, a trumpeter, and Charlie Parker, a saxophonist, in both bands. She began to imitate the way both musicians played with her singing. Through Gillespie, she obtained her first recording contract as a soloist, and in 1945, with both Parker and Gillespie she recorded “Lover Man”. This song brought her national attention.

George Treadwell became her first husband and manager and booked her to sing in both New York and Chicago clubs. When Vaughan and Treadwell started out together everything was smooth. Eventually, he tried to direct every aspect of her personal life. He spent thousands of dollars turning her into a polished and sophisticated soloist by buying her expensive clothing and arranging singing lessons. Vaughan began to perform in better clubs and attracted a large number of fans. Treadwell takes credit for her commercial success.

After George Treadwell, a number of people began to attribute to the success of Sarah. Eventually, the relationship between George and Sarah deteriorated. As a result, Sarah, also known as Sassy, was in the market for a new manager. George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, took over as manager and he agreed that Treadwell was one of the best things that happened to her