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Date of Birth: Mae Mercer12 June 1932Ran away from home at fifteen to go to New York City and start a singing career. She sang the blues in bars and other venues in Paris before returning to the States and starting an acting career. Produced the documentary film Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1972). Classic blues singer whose deep, dusky voice was heard on the international club scene. Bessie Smith was her idol. Was singing in Paris in 1960 when she met Maurice Girodias (1919-1990), the French publisher of such banned books as "Lolita" and "The Ginger Man," who hired her to sing at, and later run, the Blues Bar in Paris. ... The daughter of tobacco sharecroppers and one of nine children, she began singing in church as a teenager. Twice married, she is survived by her children, Jessie Mae Frazier and Fernando Harper. Read more |
