Dee Dee Bridgewater (USA)

Over the course of a multifaceted career, Grammy and Tony Award-winner Dee Dee Bridgewater has ascended to the upper echelon of vocalists, uniquely spinning standards and taking intrepid leaps of faith re-envisioning jazz classics.  Fearless pioneer and keeper of tradition, the three-time Grammy-winner’s most recent win was for Best Jazz Vocal Album – Eleanora Fagan (1915-1959): To Billie With Love From Dee Dee.

Bridging genres, her first professional experience was as a member of the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Louis Big Band. Throughout the 70’s, she performed with jazz notables Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon and Dizzy Gillespie, among others.

Bridgewater began self-producing with 1993’s release, Keeping Tradition (Polydor/Verve). In 2006, she created DDB Records in 2006 under a Producer/Distribution agreement with Universal Music Group – releasing critically-acclaimed albums, including Dear Ella, a double Grammy-winning tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.  She signed Theo Croker to DDB and released a project with the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (Dee Dee’s Feathers), with Sony/OKeh – all to critical acclaim.

With a parallel career in musical theater, Bridgewater won a Tony Award for her role as “Glinda” in The Wiz (1975). Her other theatrical credits include, Sophisticated Ladies, Black Ballad, Carmen, Cabaret. She revived her Laurence Olivier nominated role as Billie Holiday in Lady Day (West End and Off-Broadway) and recently appeared in the Anna Deveare-Smith penned Ella Broadway workshop. With film, television and soundtrack credits, Bridgewater is an accomplished entertainment “polymath.”

As a legacy Goodwill Ambassador to the UN FAO, Bridgewater champions global efforts in the fight against world hunger. A 2017 NEA Jazz Master, Bridgewater is an ASCAP Champion Awardee, Doris Duke Artist (2018), and Memphis Music Hall of Fame inductee (2019). She serves as co-Founder and co-Artistic Director of The Woodshed Network.