She began studying music when she was seven, taking eight years of piano lessons and two years of organ. As a child she sang in the choir at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Newark and played piano and organ in high school productions at Arts High School. She entered an amateur contest at the Apollo Theater in New York's Harlem area, singing "Body and Soul", and won the $10 prize and a week's engagement at the Apollo. From 1944 to 1945, she sang with Billy Eckstine and in 1947 she married her manager, trumpeter George Treadwell. Her later husbands included pro football player Clyde Atkins and trumpeter Waymon Reed. She received many awards, including an Emmy in 1981 for a tribute to George Gershwin and a Grammy in 1983.
2018
as Self (archive footage)
2014
as Self
2013
as Self (archive footage)
2012
as Self (archive footage)
2012
as Self (archive footage)
2009
as Self (archive footage)
2007
as Self
2006
as Self (archive footage)
2005
1991
1987
1981
as Self
1974
1972
as Self
1971
as Self
1969
as Self
1960
as Singer
1957
as Self
1956
as Self - Singer
1956
1955
as Self
1953
as Self
1951
as Herself
1950
as Self