Ivie Anderson was born in Gilroy, California in 1905. She was a chorus girl for a year with Earl Hines and his orchestra until she was discovered by Duke Ellington.She was the bandleader for “The Voice of Ellington,” for eleven years, a term longer than any other of his vocalists. She would competently perform blues, ballads, and novelty songs with enthusiasm and ease. “It Don’t Mean a Thing” was the first of her many hits with Duke and his orchestra. In 1942 she left the band to open her own Chicken Shack restaurant in Los Angeles.Her retirement from the music business was, at least in part, due to chronic asthma, a condition that brought about her early death.
