Sarah Vaughan - Tenderly - Live from Sweden 🎼

1958. Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan had an extraordinary voice, this version of Tenderly is flawless.
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- Sarah Lois Vaughan (March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "The Divine One", she won 2 Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of 9 Grammy Awards. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century".

Vaughan was born in Newark, NJ, to Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, a carpenter by trade who played guitar and piano, and Ada Vaughan, a laundress who sang in the church choir, migrants from Va. The Vaughans lived in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious and the family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of 7, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services. She developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio; in the 1930s she frequently saw local and touring bands..

Vaughan was frequently accompanied by a friend, Doris Robinson, on her trips into New York City. In the fall of 1942, by which time she was 18 years old, Vaughan suggested that Robinson enter the Apollo Theater Amateur Night contest. Vaughan played piano accompaniment for Robinson, who won second prize. Vaughan later decided to go back and compete as a singer herself. She sang "Body and Soul" and won—although the date of this victorious performance is uncertain. The prize, as Vaughan recalled to Marian McPartland, was $10 and the promise of a week's engagement at the Apollo. On Nov. 20, 1942, she returned to the Apollo to open for Ella Fitzgerald.

During her week of performances at the Apollo, Vaughan was introduced to bandleader and pianist Earl Hines, although the details of that introduction are disputed. Billy Eckstine, Hines' singer at the time, has been credited by Vaughan and others with hearing her at the Apollo and recommending her to Hines. Hines claimed later to have discovered her himself and offered her a job on the spot. After a brief tryout at the Apollo, Hines replaced his female singer with Vaughan on April 4, 1943...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Vaughan