Betty Carter › Similar Artists

Chris Connor - 100% match to Betty Carter

8 November 1927, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. After singing publicly while still at school, Connor worked with the bands of Claude Thornhill, where she was a member of the vocal group, the Snowflakes, and Herbie Fields in the late 40s and early 50s. Audibly influenced by Anita O’Day, Connor quickly developed her own recognizable style and built a localized reputation. Ha Read more

Carmen McRae - 83% match to Betty Carter

8 April 1920, New York City, New York, USA, d. 10 November 1994, Beverly Hills, California, USA. One of the best American jazz singers, McRae was also an accomplished pianist and songwriter. Early in her career she sang with bands led by Benny Carter, Mercer Ellington, Charlie Barnet and Count Basie (sometimes under the name of Carmen Clarke, from her brief marriage to Kenny Read more

Abbey Lincoln - 54% match to Betty Carter

Anna Marie Wooldridge, 6 August 1930, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Lincoln began singing publicly in the early 50s, working in Chicago nightclubs and using a variety of pseudonyms, including Anna Marie and Gaby Lee, as well as her real name. By the middle of the decade she was using the name by which she has since been largely known. She appeared successfully at the Moulin Rouge Read more

Dorothy Dandridge - 53% match to Betty Carter

Ernestine Anderson - 51% match to Betty Carter

11 November 1928, Houston, Texas, USA. Raised in Seattle, Anderson has been singing professionally since her mid-teens. She worked extensively with R&B bands in the 40s, including those led by Russell Jacquet and Johnny Otis. A year with Lionel Hampton in the early 50s and a Scandinavian tour with bop trumpeter Rolf Ericson broadened her repertoire, but she remained well Read more

Etta Jones - 51% match to Betty Carter

25 November 1928, Aiken, South Carolina, USA, d. 16 October 2001, Mount Vernon, New York, USA. By the time she began singing professionally, Jones was living in New York. She worked with Buddy Johnson, then Pete Johnson, J.C. Heard and Earl Hines. She also worjked with her husband Gerald Wilson until they divorced in the early 50s. From the early 50s she often worked as a s Read more

Shirley Horn - 51% match to Betty Carter

1 May 1934, Washington, DC, USA, d. 20 October 2005, Cheverly, Maryland, USA. After studying piano formally, Horn continued her musical education at Howard University. She began leading her own group in the mid-50s, and in the early 60s recorded several sessions for Mercury Records, often in company with front-rank bop musicians. For some years Horn spent much of her time in Read more

Billy Eckstine - 46% match to Betty Carter

William Clarence Eckstein, 8 July 1914, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 8 March 1993, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Eckstine possessed one of the most distinctive voices in popular music, a deep tone with a highly personal vibrato. He began singing at the age of 11 but until his late teens was undecided between a career as a singer or football player. He won a sporting sc Read more

Anita O'Day - 45% match to Betty Carter

Anita Belle Colton, 18 October 1919, Chicago, Illinois, USA, d. 23 November 2006, West Hollywood, California, USA. As Anita Colton, in her early teens she scraped a living as a professional Walkathon contestant (marathon dancer). During this period she changed her surname to O’Day. Along with other contestants she was encouraged to sing and during one Walkathon was acco Read more

June Christy - 45% match to Betty Carter

Shirley Luster, 20 November 1925, Springfield, Illinois, USA, d. 21 June 1990, Sherman Oaks, California, USA. Christy first came to prominence with the bands of Boyd Raeburn and Stan Kenton, although her chirpy singing style sometimes sat oddly with the earnestly progressive experiments of her employers. Her bright, bubbling personality glowed through her performances and s Read more

Helen Merrill - 44% match to Betty Carter

Jelena Ana Milcetic, 21 July 1930, New York City, New York, USA. Merrill’s early career found her singing in exalted bebop company. Among the major artists with whom she sang in the late 40s were Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Bud Powell. She spent part of the 50s outside music, but continued to make a few records with notable figures such as Clifford Brown; by the end Read more

Maxine Sullivan - 44% match to Betty Carter

Marietta Williams, 13 May 1911, Homestead, Pennsylvania, USA, d. 7 April 1987, New York City, New York, USA. Sullivan began singing in and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before travelling to New York in 1937. She joined the Claude Thornhill band and made a hugely successful record of ‘Loch Lomond’. The popularity of this recording led to her making several more j Read more

Lena Horne - 43% match to Betty Carter

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, 30 June 1917, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Horne is a dynamic performer, of striking appearance and elegant style. The daughter of an actress and a hotel operator, she was brought up mainly by her paternal grandmother, Cora Calhoun Horne. She made her professional debut at the age of 16 as a singer in the chorus at Harlem’s Cotton Clu Read more

Mildred Bailey - 42% match to Betty Carter

Mildred Rinker, 27 February 1907, nr. Tekoa, Washington, USA, d. 12 December 1951, Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. By the early 20s Bailey was singing and playing piano in silent-picture theatres as well as working as a song demonstrator and performing in revues and on the radio. When only 18 years old, she was headlining a Hollywood nightclub, singing popular songs, blues and Read more

Carol Sloane - 36% match to Betty Carter

Carol Morvan, 5 March 1937, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. While still only 14 years old, Sloane sang with a local dance band, Ed Drew’s, owing to the active encouragement of her piano- and saxophone-playing Uncle Joe. By her late teens she had gained sufficient experience to be hired by the popular dance band led by the brothers Les And Larry Elgart. In 1960 she briefl Read more