World-famous jazz singer and actress Dee Dee Bridgewater makes an appearance at the 2023 BBC Proms. Here's all you need to know about the jazz legend.
Who is Dee Dee Bridgewater?
Dee Dee Bridgewater (born Denise Garrett) is an American jazz singer and actress. She has won three Grammy Awards and one Tony Award (for Best Featured Actress in the musical The Wiz, in 1975). She also hosted a radio show, National Public Radio's JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater, for 23 years.
How old is Dee Dee Bridgewater?
Dee Dee was born on May 27, 1950.
Where is she from?
Dee Dee Bridgewater was born Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, although the family later moved to Flint, Michigan.
undefinedDid Dee Dee Bridgewater come from a musical background?
Yes: her father Matthew Garrett played the jazz trumpet and also taught the instrument at high school. This meant that the young Dee Dee was hearing a lot of jazz from early on in her life!
What did she win her three Grammy Awards for?
Her first Grammy was a team effort - she was part of the cast of The Wiz in 1975, playing Glinda the Good Witch. That role won Bridgewater a Tony Award in 1975: then, the following year, the show itself won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album.
Bridgewater's second Grammy was in 1997, a Best Vocal Performance for her album Dear Ella, a tribute to the legendary jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. With pleasing symmetry, it was another tribute to a jazz legend that won Dee Dee her third and most recent Grammy. That was for 2010's Eleanora Fagan: To Billie with Love from Dee Dee, her tribute to Billie Holliday.
Does Dee Dee Bridgewater have children?
Yes - three! They are: Tulani Bridgewater, from her first marriage to the jazz trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater); the singer-songwriter, producer and radio host China Moses (from her marriage to the theatre, film and television director Gilbert Moses) and Gabriel Durand (from her marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand). China Moses tours worldwide, and sometimes shares the bill with her famous mother.
What else should I know about Dee Dee Bridgewater?
Dee Dee is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Pic: Roland Godefroy
