born Oct. 14, 1928 Joyce Bryant "You Made Me Love You"
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- čas přidán 13. 10. 2016
- Joyce Bryant (born October 14, 1928) is an African-American singer and actress who achieved fame in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a theater and nightclub performer. With her signature silver hair and tight mermaid dresses, she became an early African-American sex symbol, garnering such nicknames as "The Bronze Blond Bombshell", "the black Marilyn Monroe", "The Belter", and "The Voice You'll Always Remember".
During the late 1940s, Bryant had slowly acquired a series of regular gigs, from a $400-per-week engagement at New York's La Martinique nightclub to a 118-show tour of the Catskill Mountains hotel circuit. Her reputation and profile eventually grew to the level that one night, she appeared on the same bill as Josephine Baker. Not wanting to be upstaged, Bryant colored her hair silver using radiator paint, and performed wearing a tight silver dress and silver floor-length mink. Bryant recalled when she arrived onstage, "I stopped everything!" Bryant's silver hair and tight, backless, cleavage-revealing mermaid dresses became her trademark look and, combined with her four octave voice, further elevated her status into one of the major headlining stars of the early 1950s, by which time she became known by such nicknames as "The Bronze Blond Bombshell", "the black Marilyn Monroe", "The Belter", and "The Voice You'll Always Remember". Etta James noted in her 2003 autobiography, Rage to Survive: The Etta James Story: "I didn't want to look innocent. I wanted to look like Joyce Bryant. [...] I dug her. I thought Joyce was gutsy and I copied her style-brazen and independent."
Joyce Bryant's Runnin' Wild EP, released by Epic in 1954, featured "Love for Sale", a song that was banned on American radio stations due to its lyrical content.
Beginning in 1952, Bryant released a series of records for Okeh, including "A Shoulder to Weep On", "After You've Gone" and "Farewell to Love". Two of her most well-known standards, "Love for Sale" and "Drunk with Love", were banned from radio play for their provocative lyrics. Upon the release of "Runnin' Wild" two years later, Jet noted that the song was Bryant's "first to be passed by CBS and NBC radio censors, who banned three previous recordings for being too sexy." Bryant remarked in 1980, "what an irony that my biggest hit record was 'Love for Sale'. Banned in Boston it was, and later...just about everywhere else."
Bryant, who often faced discrimination and was outspoken on issues of racial inequality, became in 1952 the first black entertainer to perform at a Miami Beach hotel, defying threats by the Ku Klux Klan who had burned her in effigy. She was critical of racial billing practices at night clubs and hotels and advocated for entertainers as a group to fight Jim Crow laws. In 1954, she became one of the first black singers to perform at the Casino Royal in Washington, D.C., where she said that she had heard so much about the segregation practiced there that she was surprised to see so many African-Americans attend the downtown club. "It was a great thrill," she said, "to see them enter and be treated so courteously by the management."
A Life magazine layout in 1953 depicted Bryant in provocative poses, which film historian and author Donald Bogle said were "the kind that readers seldom saw of white goddesses." The following year, Bryant-along with Lena Horne, Hilda Simms, Eartha Kitt, and Dorothy Dandridge-was named in an issue of Ebony one of the five most beautiful black women in the world.
Departure and return to show business
Bryant earned up to $3500 a performance in the early 1950s, but she had grown weary of the industry.
Ebony published a feature article in its May 1956 issue entitled "The New World of Joyce Bryant: Former Café Singer Gives Up $200,000-a-year Career to Learn to Serve God".
Disillusioned, Bryant returned to entertaining in the 1960s and trained with vocal teacher Frederick Wilkerson at Howard University, which led to her winning a contract with the New York City Opera. She also toured internationally with the Italian, French, and Vienna Opera companies. She returned to performing jazz in the 1980s and began a career as a vocal instructor, with such clients as Jennifer Holliday, Phyllis Hyman, and Raquel Welch. A documentary, entitled Joyce Bryant: The Lost Diva, is in the works.
Wikipedia
Joyce Bryant is alive and well at age 91 I am her niece and caregiver
Thats so good to hear. Bless her. She is a Legend to be celebrated for all of her firsts. Like others of her time upon her shoulders many stand.
Blesses
Tell her people appreciate the trail she made and are watching her still today.😄😄😄
First time I hear her magical voice. WOW!!
I stumbled on her picture on Instagram today. Bless you Ms. Bryant!!!
She is bomb
And she is still alive. What a blessing
Those nails🌸
Beautiful voice
She's beautiful
JOYCE BRYANT HAS BEAUTIFUL VOICE. JOYCE'S BEAUTY WAS MESMERIZING!
What a wonderful voice! Happy she is alive and with family! Blessings for the Holiday Season and coming New Year!
Apparently she passed, but thankfully her music and legacy is still being appreciated
What a beautiful voice/ just googled singers in a movie classic because her voice mesmerized me omggggg Stunning too
A beautiful woman with a beautiful voice sings a beautiful song.
Ms. Bryant's voice is incredible. Her phrasing and tone are so smooth . I would have never heard or know of her legacy if it wasn't for this young Lady's (vintageincolor) Tictok clip . Thank you Ms. Joyce Bryant for representing us with such talent ,beauty and grace .
May her memory be for a blessing.
❤️
Joyce Bryant has an amazing voice. It's amazing I never heard of her before. Wow what a talented performer,
Damn she went in on this one
11/30/22 - Coming from the SF Bay area - Just found out your aunt passed away on November 20th. She was indeed a very stunning and beautiful lady and that voice "Wow". Music from her generation/era should be treasured and enjoyed for years to come. God Bless You and Ms. Joyce🙏🙏🙏
My great grandma all time fav song as my mum just told me
Strong and beautiful voice
You made me love you
I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it
You made me love you
And all the time you knew it
I guess you always knew it.
You made me happy sometimes, you made me glad
But there were times, Dear, you made me feel so bad
You made me sigh for, I didn't want to tell you
I didn't want to tell you
I want some love that's true, yes I do, deed I do, you know I do
Give me, give me, give me what I cry f
Beautiful 💛
Cool, I share a birthday with Joyce Bryant!
And a happy birthday to you!
Thank you 😉I will let her know what cha said 😘
Is there a documentary of her life?
Please push for a movie or an autobiography of her. She needs to be added to Black History month because I am not familiar with her acting or singing. Her voice is lovely and better than Dorothy Dandridge whom I love and rival Lena Horne. I'm an old movie or vintage movie watcher. God bless your family and may she rest in peace!
Alas, from Wikipedia, Died November 20, 2022 (aged 95)