E9569 - Dinah Washington: How the Queen of the Blues Refused to Stay in Her Lane

Dinah Washington could walk into a Las Vegas venue unannounced, claim the stage, and draw every performer on the strip to watch her work. This episode views her life through the lens of rebellion against categorization. Born Ruth Lee Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 1924, she moved to Chicago with her family as a child, played piano for the choir at St. Luke's Baptist Church while still in elementary school, directed the choir as a teenager, and left high school to tour with the Sallie Martin gospel singers. After winning an amateur contest at the Regal Theater, she was performing...