Florence Mills

Entertainer and singer, born in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. She was appearing in musicals by age five, toured with two sisters in vaudeville at age 15, and then gained notice in 1916 singing in the Panama Trio. Her big break came when she replaced the lead in the all-black hit musical, Shuffle Along (1921), and she went on to star in such Broadway musicals as Plantation Revue (1922) and Dixie to Broadway (1924). By this time she was also a star in London and Paris and became most famous for her rendition of ‘I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird’. She also sang a solo written especially for her in William Grant Still's orchestral work, Levee Land (1926). Petite, beautiful, and completely in command on stage, she was greatly mourned when she died prematurely.

Known as the "Queen of Happiness," Florence Mills was a popular African American cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian known for her effervescent stage presence, delicate voice, and winsome, wide-eyed beauty.

Featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair and photographed by Bassano and Edward Steichen, she was best known for her renditions of "I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird" and "I'm Cravin' for that Kind of Love."

From 1921 until her death in 1927, she was married to Ulysses "Slow Kid" Thompson, whom she met in 1917 as the dancing conductor of a black jazz band known as the Tennessee Ten.

After her death, Duke Ellington memorialized Mills in his song "Black Beauty." A definitive biography of her life is available - "Florence Mills Harlem Jazz Queen" see http://www.scarecrowpress.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0810850079# (ISBN 0-8108-5007-9) A web site dedicated to her can be seen at: