Ethel Waters moved from 1920s blues and vaudeville into 1930s Broadway and Hollywood, becoming one of the first Black performers to achieve major mainstream stardom in American popular entertainment. Her 1933 Cotton Club debut of 'Stormy Weather' became a signature recording, prized for its theatrical, carefully enunciated phrasing — a more polished, diction-forward counterpoint to the raw blues shouting of her contemporaries. She later became a pioneering Black dramatic actress on stage and screen.

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1933

Stormy WeatherEthel Waters