Anita White
Lady A | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Anita White |
| Born | July 18, 1958 Seattle, Washington |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Labels | Independent |
| Website | {{URL|example.com|optional display text}} |
Anita White (born July 18, 1958),[1] known professionally as Lady A, is a Seattle-based African American activist and vocalist in blues, soul, funk, and gospel music of more than 20 years.
Career
Born and raised in Seattle, Washington, her singing began at age 5 with her musical family, and her performance career began in the 1980s as a backup vocalist in a Motown revue band.[2] She played in the Motown group called Lady A & the Baby Blues Funk band for 18 years and then went solo on tour in the Pacific Northwest and Mississippi Delta regions.[3] She has released five solo albums, debuting in 2010. She operates Lady A Productions, serving gospel and blues artists. She hosts two music shows on NWCZ Radio online: Gumbo & Gospel, and Black N Blues (the B side).[4] Her own music's subject matter has included racial activism such as about the shooting of Trayvon Martin and the killing of George Floyd.[1]
Name conflict
On June 12, 2020, amid the George Floyd protests, the pop country music group Lady Antebellum shortened its name to its nickname "Lady A"[5] in an attempt to blunt the name's association to the Antebellum South, including the glorification of the Civil War and slavery. The next day, it was widely reported that the name had already been in use for more than 20 years by Anita White. The band members publicly admitted ignorance of any prior use, both when they had arbitrarily chosen the first name and again with this one, which White called "pure privilege". As reported by American Songwriter[4] and Rolling Stone, White described the band's token acknowledgement of racism while blithely appropriating an African American artist's name: "They're using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that, for them, is just a moment in time. If it mattered, it would have mattered to them before. It shouldn't have taken George Floyd to die for them to realize that their name had a slave reference to it. It's an opportunity for them to pretend they're not racist". A veteran music industry lawyer observed that such name clashes are uncommon due to the existence of the Internet.[1][6][7][4] The band contacted White the next week to apologize while retaining the same name, and she said "We talked about attempting to co-exist but didn't discuss what that would look like".[8]
Discography
Lady A has released four solo albums, with a fifth set for release in 2020.
- BlueZ in the Key of Me (2010)[9]
- How Did I Get Here (2013)
- Loved, Blessed and Blues (2016)[10]
- Doin' Fine (2018)[11]
- Lady A: Live in New Orleans (2020)
Reception
In 2016, Rick J. Bowen for Innocent Words magazine reviewed Loved, Blessed and Blues (2016), calling Lady A "one of the hardest working women of the Northwest music community" and the album "a reflection of the ten songs and Lady A’s philosophy on life, as she reflects and testifies to being blessed and loved and to the power of the blues" in which she delivers "an altar call with her full-throated alto leading the choir of voices lifted to the heavens".[12] She is the cover feature of the January 2018 issue of Jefferson Blues Magazine.[13] In 2018, John Mitchell with Blues Blast Magazine reviewed Doin’ Fine (2018), saying Lady A has a strong, Southern sounding voice which "delivers all these kinds of songs well" with his favorite being the "bright soulful" piece "Next Time U C Me". He remarked that Lady A plus the backing vocalists sometimes sound like a full choir, with a mixture of gospel and secular lyrics.[14] She was nominated Best Blues Performer of the Year 2020 by the Washington Blues Society.[15] In 2020, American Songwriter called her "a legendary soul & blues diva who has been beloved in the Pacific Northwest for decades, both for the unchained power of her soul and blues singing, and for her ongoing contributions to the community".[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wang, Amy X.; Millman, Ethan (June 12, 2020). "Lady Antebellum Is Now 'Lady A.' But So Is a Blues Singer Who's Used the Name for 20 Years". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- ↑ "'Blues On!' Takes Over Where the Old Town Blues Festival Left Off". Tacoma Weekly News. July 13, 2018. p. 26. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ↑ "Lady A". Seattle Public Library. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Zollo, Paul (June 13, 2020). "The Original Lady A Responds to Lady Antebellum's Name Change". American Songwriter. Retrieved June 13, 2020.
- ↑ Freeman, Jon (June 11, 2020). "Lady A Drop 'Antebellum' From Their Name". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
move forward as Lady A, the nickname our fans gave us almost from the start
- ↑ Arnold, Chuck (2020-06-12). "The real Lady A, a blues singer from Seattle, slams Lady Antebellum after name change". New York Post. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
- ↑ Amore, Samson (2020-06-12). "Blues Singer Lady A 'Not Happy' About Lady Antebellum's New Name". TheWrap. Retrieved 2020-06-13. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Yasharoff, Hannah (June 16, 2020). "Former Lady Antebellum will continue going by Lady A after apologizing to singer with the same name". USA Today. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
- ↑ Lady A. BlueZ in the Key of Me (CD). Delta Music Experience. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- ↑ Lady A (2016). Loved, Blessed and Blues (CD). Lady A. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- ↑ Lady A (2018). Doin' Fine (CD). Lady A. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- ↑ Bowen, Rick J. (August 2016). "Lady A: Loved, Blessed and Blues (Self-Released)". Innocent Words. Article text. Archived from the original on April 6, 2017. Retrieved June 14, 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Lady A". Jefferson Blues Magazine. No. 195. Sweden: Swedish Blues Association. January 2018. p. 12. Archived from the original on June 6, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Mitchell, John (September 17, 2018). "Lady A – Doin' Fine: Album Review". Blues Blast Magazine. Retrieved June 14, 2020.
- ↑ Sissler, James (2020-06-12). "Singer Lady A Calls Out Lady Antebellum On Name Change: "You Can't Take My Name"". L4LM. Retrieved 2020-06-13. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
External links
This article "Anita White" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Anita White. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
|
This page exists already on Wikipedia. |
