SEATTLE (AP) – Ernestine Anderson, the internationally celebrated jazz vocalist who earned four Grammy nominations during a six-decade career, has died. She was 87.
The King County Medical Examiner’s Office said Sunday that it received a report that Anderson died of natural causes Thursday at a nursing home in Shoreline.
The jazz and blues singer performed all over the world, from the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall to festivals in South America, Japan and Europe, The Seattle Times reported (http://goo.gl/LEwaoL ).
She toured widely and sang with bands led by Los Angeles R&B singer Johnny Otis and swing-band leader Lionel Hampton. She performed at the presidential inauguration of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Childhood friend and producer Quincy Jones once described her voice as the sound of “honey at dusk.”