Brown, Ada (1889–1950)
Brown, Ada (1889–1950)
American jazz singer and pianist. Born Ada Scott in Kansas City, Kansas, on May 1, 1889; died in Kansas City on March 31, 1950; daughter of H.W. and Anna (Morris) Scott; cousin of James Scott, noted ragtime composer and pianist.
Billed in her day as "Queen of Blues," Ada Brown is often omitted from the annals of jazz greats. She was born into a musically inclined family and sang in church as a child before launching her career in 1910 at Bob Mott's Pekin Theater in Chicago. She reportedly worked clubs in Paris and Berlin, then became a regular with the Bennie Moten Band during the early 1920s. From the mid-1920s, Brown did widespread theater tours throughout the U.S. and Canada, and appeared in black revues and musical comedies up and down Broadway. Brown was featured at the London Palladium in the late '30s and appeared with Fats Waller in the film Stormy Weather (1943). One of her last appearances was in Memphis Bound (1945), shortly before her retirement. As a footnote to her career, Brown was one of the original incorporators of The Negro Actors Guild of America in 1936. She moved to Kansas City, Kansas, after leaving music, and died there of kidney disease in 1950.