Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Is it her treasure?

Muriel Gaines was a dancer in Harlem's Cotton Club, and started singing calypso in the 1940s at the Village Vanguard and Le Ruban Bleu. She later toured Europe, where she was dubbed the "Queen of Calypso." She released two calypso records in 1945 on the National label, accompanied by Sam Manning's Serenaders: "Ugly Woman" c/w "You Got to Have Power," and "What You Gonna Do" c/w "Too Sweet, Too Sweet."

Above: Muriel on the cover of Jet (May 29, 1952)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Muriel Gaines is my great aunt and I am happy to find her on the net. I would also like to find out about her life and times. Also I am interested in finding out about my Uncle Lee Gaines too.

Darryl Velez-Ruff said...

She is also my aunt and I would appreciate knowing more about her as well. if you can reach out to me I have sent you a message on ancestry.com.