# Ethel Waters
**Ethel Waters** (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American blues, jazz, and popular singer and actress who, over a career of roughly sixty years, moved from vaudeville and nightclub blues to Broadway musicals, dramatic stage roles, Hollywood films, television, and finally gospel music.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) She introduced or popularized standards including "Dinah," "Am I Blue?", "Heat Wave," "Taking a Chance on Love," and "Stormy Weather," and accumulated a series of firsts for a Black woman in American entertainment, from radio and the Palace Theater to an integrated Broadway show and a Primetime Emmy nomination.[2](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | October 31, 1896, Chester, Pennsylvania; September 1, 1977, Chatsworth, California[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) |
| Signature recording | "Stormy Weather," recorded May 3, 1933; Grammy Hall of Fame 2003, Library of Congress National Recording Registry 2004[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf) |
| Broadway firsts | First Black performer to receive equal billing with white co-stars, in Irving Berlin's *As Thousands Cheer* (1933); first Black woman to star in a leading dramatic role on Broadway, in *Mamba's Daughters* (1939)[4](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml) |
| Screen and television | Academy Award nomination for *Pinky* (1949); star of the television series *Beulah* (1950–51); first African American woman nominated for a Primetime Emmy[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/) • [2](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters) • [6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Archive-Encyclopedia-of-Television/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-4.pdf) |
| Recording firsts | Began recording in 1921 on the Black Swan label; first black woman to appear on radio (April 21, 1922)[7](https://prabook.com/web/ethel.waters/236063) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) |
| Later career | Toured with evangelist Billy Graham in the 1960s, singing gospel, and made famous "His Eye Is on the Sparrow"[2](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters) • [8](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810.pdf) |
## Early life
Waters was born in [Chester, Pennsylvania](https://www.edgepedia.org/chester-pennsylvania), to Louise Anderson, who had been raped at knifepoint as a young teenager by a local man named [John Waters](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-waters); the child was raised largely by her grandmother Sally Anderson and grew up in poverty in [South Philadelphia](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-philadelphia).[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) She went to work as a cleaning woman at about age eight and later as a maid, dishwasher, and waitress in local hotels.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) She married for the first time at age 13, to Merritt Purnsley, and had no children.[2](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters)
Her entry into performance came in 1917, when she sang at a party at a Philadelphia bar and was signed by two vaudeville producers; she began singing professionally in Baltimore, where she performed under the early moniker "Sweet Mama Stringbean" before settling on her own name.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) • [9](https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/08/29/joy-out-fire-ethel-waters)
## Recording and nightclub career
**Early recordings.** In 1921 Waters began recording for the Black Swan label, cutting "Down Home Blues" and "Oh, Daddy," and then toured with Fletcher Henderson's Black Swan Jazz Masters.[7](https://prabook.com/web/ethel.waters/236063) AllMusic describes her as one of the first true jazz singers to record, noting that her jazz-oriented recordings of 1921–1928 "swung before that term was even coined."[10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7780) She gained notice with "St. Louis Blues," which, according to the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum, she was the first woman to perform.[11](https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/african-american-lgbtq-woman-ethel-waters-shaped-us-entertainment)
Her style set her apart from the classic blues shouters. Where [Bessie Smith](https://www.edgepedia.org/bessie-smith) and [Ma Rainey](https://www.edgepedia.org/ma-rainey) sang in a deep, rough southern manner, Waters used a light, clear voice, and she performed "St. Louis Blues" very softly, a delivery that Black audiences accustomed to the shouters came to accept.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) • [12](https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2019-09-04/ella-fitzgerald-ethel-waters-and-the-colors-of-sound) Around 1923 her colleague Earl Dancer pushed her into auditioning for white Chicago theaters, the lucrative "white time" circuit, where she succeeded at a higher salary than she had ever earned.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
## "Stormy Weather" and Broadway
In 1933 Waters accepted an offer to perform at Harlem's Cotton Club at the highest salary the club had paid any star. Composer [Harold Arlen](https://www.edgepedia.org/harold-arlen) and lyricist Ted Koehler had written "Stormy Weather" with [Cab Calloway](https://www.edgepedia.org/cab-calloway) in mind, but when Calloway was not signed for the twenty-second edition of the Cotton Club Parade, Waters sang it instead with [Duke Ellington](https://www.edgepedia.org/duke-ellington)'s orchestra.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf) The show opened on April 16, 1933, and her singing of the song became the talk of New York; she recorded it on May 3, 1933, and it became the biggest hit of her career.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) In her 1951 autobiography *His Eye Is on the Sparrow*, Waters described the song as "the perfect expression of my mood," writing that she sang it "from the depths of the private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated."[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf)
**Irving Berlin and integration.** [Irving Berlin](https://www.edgepedia.org/irving-berlin) traveled to Harlem to hear her sing the song, and the next day offered her a role in his new Broadway revue *As Thousands Cheer*, which premiered at the Music Box Theater on September 30, 1933, and ran 390 performances.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) In that production Waters became the first Black performer to receive equal billing with white co-stars on Broadway, and she sang "Supper Time," a song about the lynching of Southern Black people that Berlin wrote for her, as well as "Heat Wave."[4](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) She soon became one of the highest-paid performers on Broadway regardless of race.[2](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters)
Her earlier Broadway credits included *Africana* (1927), *Blackbirds of 1930*, and *Rhapsody in Black*; in 1940 she starred in *Cabin in the Sky*, with her name above the title, introducing "Taking a Chance on Love" and the title song, and she carried both to the 1943 MGM film.[13](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/) • [14](https://www.loc.gov/collections/katherine-dunham/articles-and-essays/notes-on-dunhams-work/cabin-in-the-sky) • [10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7780)
## Dramatic acting, film, and television
In 1939 Waters made her debut as a dramatic actress playing Hagar in *Mamba's Daughters* on Broadway, becoming the first Black woman to star in a leading dramatic role there.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters) • [4](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml) Her role as Berenice Sadie Brown in [Carson McCullers](https://www.edgepedia.org/carson-mccullers)'s *The Member of the Wedding* (1950–52) earned her the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for best actress in 1950, and the play was filmed in 1952.[4](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml) • [1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
Her film work included *On with the Show!* (1929), in which she sang "Am I Blue?", *Cabin in the Sky* (1943), and *Pinky* (1949), for which she received an Academy Award nomination, the second for an African American actress after [Hattie McDaniel](https://www.edgepedia.org/hattie-mcdaniel).[10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7780) • [5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/) On television she starred in the series *Beulah* (1950–51), playing a maid, and in 1961 she gave a performance in the *Route 66* episode "Good Night, Sweet Blues" as a dying blues singer that made her the first Black actress nominated for an Emmy Award.[14](https://www.loc.gov/collections/katherine-dunham/articles-and-essays/notes-on-dunhams-work/cabin-in-the-sky) • [6](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Archive-Encyclopedia-of-Television/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-4.pdf) [Diahann Carroll](https://www.edgepedia.org/diahann-carroll)'s later role in *Julia* (1968–71) is accordingly described as the first starring television role for a Black woman in a non-servant part.[15](https://time.com/5692887/diahann-carroll-dead/)
## Gospel years and legacy
After 1960 Waters largely confined her performances to religious work, touring through the 1960s and into the mid-1970s with evangelist [Billy Graham](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-graham)'s crusades and making famous the hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," which she had used as the title of her autobiography.[10](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7780) • [13](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/) • [8](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810.pdf) She died of cancer on September 1, 1977, in Chatsworth, California.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
**Influence.** Waters's vocal style, which combined elements of Broadway singing and blues, is widely credited as a formative influence on modern American popular singing; one jazz history places her, along with [Bing Crosby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bing-crosby) and [Louis Armstrong](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-armstrong), among the defining influences on American popular singing, and notes that it is Waters who is heard on Billie Holiday's first record, "My Mother's Son-in-Law."[4](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml) • [16](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780199715206_A23608340/preview-9780199715206_A23608340.pdf) Singers she influenced include Connee Boswell, Mildred Bailey, Lee Wiley, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald.[13](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/) Three of her recordings are in the Grammy Hall of Fame: "Dinah" (1925, inducted 1998), "Stormy Weather" (1933, inducted 2003), and "Am I Blue?" (1929, inducted 2007).[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/) • [17](https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award/) The U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring her in 1994.[1](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
## References
1. [Waters, Ethel, Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters)
2. [Ethel Waters, National Museum of African American History and Culture](https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters)
3. ["Stormy Weather"—Ethel Waters (1933), Library of Congress National Recording Registry essay by Stephen Bourne](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/StormyWeather.pdf)
4. [Ethel Waters: An Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Center, Texas Archival Resources](https://txarchives.org/uthrc/finding_aids/01563.xml)
5. [Ethel Waters Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0914083/bio/)
6. [Waters, Ethel (1896–1977), The Encyclopedia of Television](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/BOOKSHELF-ARH/Encyclopedias/Archive-Encyclopedia-of-Television/Encyclopedia-of-Television-Vol-4.pdf)
7. [Ethel Waters, Prabook (World Biographical Encyclopedia)](https://prabook.com/web/ethel.waters/236063)
8. [Publication 512 – Women on Stamps, U.S. Postal Service via govinfo](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810/pdf/GOVPUB-P-PURL-gpo173810.pdf)
9. [Joy Out of Fire: Ethel Waters, The New York Public Library](https://www.nypl.org/blog/2018/08/29/joy-out-fire-ethel-waters)
10. [Ethel Waters Biography, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/p7780)
11. [As an African American, LGBTQ+ Woman, Ethel Waters Shaped U.S. Entertainment, Smithsonian American Women's History Museum](https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/african-american-lgbtq-woman-ethel-waters-shaped-us-entertainment)
12. [Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters And The Colors Of Sound, NPR Music (KLCC)](https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2019-09-04/ella-fitzgerald-ethel-waters-and-the-colors-of-sound)
13. [Ethel Waters, Broadway: The American Musical, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/)
14. [Cabin in the Sky, Notes on Dunham's Work, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/collections/katherine-dunham/articles-and-essays/notes-on-dunhams-work/cabin-in-the-sky)
15. [Diahann Carroll, Oscar-Nominated Actress and Singer, Dies at 84, TIME](https://time.com/5692887/diahann-carroll-dead/)
16. [Jazz Singing (book preview including chapter on Ethel Waters), Oxford University Press](https://api.pageplace.de/preview/DT0400.9780199715206_A23608340/preview-9780199715206_A23608340.pdf)
17. [GRAMMY Hall of Fame Award, Recording Academy](https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Classic R&B and soul, pre-1970*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license