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Lincoln, Abbey

Abbey Lincoln, (Anna Marie Wooldridge; Gaby Lee; Aminata; Moseka), American vocalist, songwriter, and actress (born Aug. 6, 1930, Chicago, Ill.—died Aug. 14, 2010, New York, N.Y.), wrote songs about black culture and civil rights and sang them in a dramatic, evocative style. She grew up in southern Michigan and was first noted as the glamorous singer Gaby Lee (1952–53) in Hawaii, but after moving to California she changed her name to Abbey Lincoln and appeared in the film The Girl Can’t Help It (1956). Influenced by the great jazz drummer Max Roach, she explored black identity in her song lyrics, and her fiercely urgent singing lent power to his albums We Insist! Freedom Now Suite (1960) and Percussion Bitter Sweet (1961). While married to Roach (1962–70) she starred in the films For Love of Ivy (1968), for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Nothing but a Man (1964); she went on to act in such television series as Mission Impossible and All in the Family. During a 1972 tour of Africa she was honoured with the names of Aminata and Moseka by officials in Guinea and Zaire, respectively. Beginning with The World Is Falling Down (1990), her songwriting became more philosophical, and her singing career reached new heights, especially with the release of a series of nine CDs in which she was joined by top jazz artists such as Jackie McLean, Stan Getz, and Charlie Haden. Her last album, Abbey Sings Abbey, was released as she was recovering from open-heart surgery in 2007.
Composer
Waldron, Mal
Lyricist
Lincoln, Abbey
Composer
Lincoln, Abbey
Composer
Lincoln, Abbey