Eva Taylor, born Irene Joy Gibbons (St. Louis, 22 January 1895 - Mineola, 31 October 1977) was an American bluesand jazz singer and vaudevillestar, she was one of the first ' black ' singers who sang for the radio.
Taylor was already on the shelves when she was three years old and they toured at a young age in Europe, Australiaand New Zealand . She was part of the vaudeville-company Josephine Gassman and Her Pickaninnies. Around 1920 she went to New York City, where she worked in nightclubs in Harlem. They married here with jazz pianist, singer and producer Clarence Williamsand worked together with her husband on the radio and in the record studio. The couple rose to record in the 1930s on, including Williams ' group Blue Five, where greats like Louis Armstrong,Sidney Bechet and the zangeresen Bessie Smith and Sippie Wallace were active. In 1922 Eva Taylor made her first record for Black Swan Records, which her afficheerde as the Dixie Nightingale. In the 1930s she took to many dozens of plates on, also for other record labels like Okeh Records and Columbia, jazz, blues, and popular songs. She was also a singer on recordings by the studio Orchestra The Charleston Chasers. In 1927, she appeared on the Broadway-musical ' Bottomland '. Further, she had a radio show on NBC (1929) and she worked years for radio station WOR. Around 1947 she stopped action, but after the death of her husband in 1965, she made a ' comeback ' and she toured Europe. Also she took at the age of 81 on a studio record with Swedish musicians.
Eva Taylor died from cancer in 1977. She is the grandmother of the actor Clarence Williams III.
Discography (selection)[Edit][]
- Complete Recorded Works, vol. 1 (1922-1923), Document Records, 1996
- Complete Recorded Works, vol. 2 (1923-1927), Document Records, 1996
- Complete Recorded Works, vol. 3 (1928-1932), Document Records, 1996
- Not Just the Blues, Pearl Records, 1996z
- Legendary Eva Taylor With Maggie's Blue Five, Kenneth Records, 1976
- Legendary: Live at the Pawnshop, Opus3 Records, 1976