Dee Dee Bridgewater in Melbourne

Dee Dee Bridgewater is an American jazz singer and actress, born in Memphis in 1950. Her recordings include Dear Ella, the Billie Holiday tribute Eleanora Fagan (1915–1959): To Billie with Love from Dee Dee, and Red Earth, made with musicians from Mali. She also won a Tony Award for playing Glinda in the original Broadway production of The Wiz. In the early 1970s, Dee Dee Bridgewater sang with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra during its Village Vanguard residency. She recorded performances at New Morning in Paris in 1986 for Live in Paris, and her 1990 appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival was also issued as a concert album. A 2000 engagement in Oakland was released as Live at Yoshi’s.