Mabel Mercer (1900-1984) was a famous cabaret performer and an inspiration to some of the most famous voices of music.
Mabel Mercer (1900-1984) was a famous cabaret performer and an inspiration to some of the most famous voices of music.
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Today’s Womanican is known as “the singer’s singer.” She was a famous cabaret performer, and an inspiration to some of the most famous voices of music history– from Sinatra to Holiday, her voice and act was the template. Please welcome: Mabel Mercer.
Mabel was born on February 3rd, 1900, in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. Her father was a Black American musician and died before she was born. Her mother was a white British vaudeville singer and actress. When Mabel was 14, she left her convent school to join her aunt’s vaudeville ensemble and began her career in cabaret.
In the following years, Mabel joined Will Garland’s all-black cast of singers, dancers, and comedians, and later the London premiere of Show Boat, which starred fellow Womanican Alberta Hunter. She began singing in Paris after filling in for a male quartet’s sick tenor, and continued singing at celebrated cabarets. She found great success at a nightclub called Bricktop’s, where Cole Porter had a permanent table.
Despite her early start in show business, Mabel was a self-proclaimed introvert. In later years, she’d recall her early gigs with horrible stage fright. It may have been this shyness that influenced her unique method of singing. At Bricktop’s, she’d sing audience members’ requests directly to them, taking a seat at their table. She often compared her songs to stories, emphasizing interpretation, diction, lyrics, and projection, over strict vocal technique. Allegedly, her delivery was so delicate, a professor of English once used her records in classes to demonstrate fine diction.
In 1938, with World War II on the horizon, Mabel left Paris. She spent some time in the Bahamas, before marrying an openly gay musician, Kelsey Pharr of the Delta Rhythm Boys. This granted her an entry visa so she could travel to the U.S. Mabel and Kelsey never lived together, but they remained legally married until his death in 1961.
When she got to the U.S., Mabel performed seated in a high-backed armchair with her hands folded in her lap. It became her signature method. During the next decades, she performed in New York’s swankiest night clubs. She had engagements at Le Ruban Bleu, Tony’s on 52nd, the Byline Room, Downstairs at the Upstairs, the St. Regis, and the Carlyle Cafe.
As she got older, Mabel’s voice deepened from its then-famous soprano. Mabel herself once said her voice was an acquired taste, which grew on people like a barnacle. But she had always had a unique voice and delivery, the likes of which Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, Barbara Cook, and Bobby Short all credited as a teacher in their careers. Singer Johnny Mathis admired her so much, he told audiences asking him for an encore to go to the St. Regis, instead, to listen to Mabel perform. She’s also credited with keeping alive many, many songs that went on to become jazz standards.
In 1977, Mabel returned to London for the first time in 40 years. Her return was so highly anticipated, the BBC filmed three evenings of her performance and devoted an entire week to a series of late-night half-hour television broadcasts– a first time honor for the channel.
Mabel entered semi-retirement in 1979, and took part in concerts sporadically through the 1980s. But at this later stage of her career, her impact was palpable. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1984, Stereo Review Magazine, who had awarded Mabel their first-ever Award of Merit in 1975 in honor of her 75th birthday, renamed the award after her.
Mabel also received two honorary Doctor of Music degrees from Boston’s Berklee College of Music, and the New England Conservatory of Music.
Mabel died on April 20, 1984. The following year on her birthday, the Mabel Mercer Foundation, which promotes study and interest in the style of cabaret, was formally established.