Carmen Mercedes McRae was born on April 8, 1920, as jazz was gaining in popularity but also facing a backlash from some conservative folks. Jazz is an American music style that indeed has a long history entangled in racism but also offered musicians a freedom to express themselves through syncopation and improvisation along the blues scale. Jazz may have been born from combining the elements of European classical music with influences from enslaved Africans and primarily developed among Black Americans, but white bands were recording and performing jazz around the nation decades before Blacks got the same opportunity, as shown in a 2020 Herstory essay on this website.
McRae was born as black jazz performers were finally starting to get wider attention with record deals and club appearances that entertained mixed audiences. Her childhood neighborhood in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City was in the midst of what historians call the Harlem Renaissance. Her parents, Osmond and Evadne McRae, were Jamaican immigrants, and they loved jazz music.
By the age of eight, McRae was taking piano lessons. During her teens, McRae began working with Teddy Wilson and Irene Kitchings, a husband-and-wife team who were well known in the jazz scene as a pianist and composer/band leader. At age 17 and with an introduction from Kitchings, McRae gave her song “Dream of Life” to jazz legend Billie Holiday, who recorded it in 1939. Holiday was considered by McRae to be her primary influence as a singer.
Breaking into music was still a challenge, so McRae worked as a secretary during the day, played jazz piano in Minton's Playhouse in the evenings, and sometimes was a chorus girl in various shows. 1944 was a pivotal year for McRae. She began playing with Benny Carter and Count Basie and married drummer Kenny Clarke. She made her first record under the name Carmen Clarke with the Mercer Ellington Orchestra in 1946.
McRae’s first marriage wasn’t an easy one. The couple was separated almost immediately because Clarke served during World War II. At one point McRae followed comedian George Kirby to Chicago from 1948 to 1952. She had a steady gig as a jazz pianist while in the Windy City but returned to her New York City roots. The marriage to Clarke would last four more years, but McRae was busy making records and a name for herself, earning the 1954 “Best New Female Vocalist” title from the famous DownBeat magazine, which focused on the jazz scene for over 85 years.
After her marriage to Clarke ended, McRae fell in love with bassist Ike Isaacs. The two married, but it only lasted a couple of years, ending with a divorce in 1961. At that point, McRae never married again, but continued to advance her career while having loving relationships with both men and women.
McRae met Milt Gabler from Decca and recorded 12 albums at Decca from 1955-1960. These albums included duets and performances with bands but also solo work. She became known for singing behind the beat, making the lyrics swing more intensely. Her interpretations of lyrics also became iconic for the emotion she put behind each word and note. Behind the performances, McRae developed a reputation for being tough and exacting.
After these recordings, McRae began touring around the world in the 1960s. By the end of the 60s, she moved to California to be closer to her parents and other family who had moved out west earlier. Access to more venues, agents, managers, and record labels gave her more freedom to exercise control over her work. Colleagues and backup performers claimed McRae was outspoken and opinionated, but she was also helpful to younger talent. Is the criticism of her outspokenness merely that men didn’t like a woman who knew what she wanted from her career and life?
She returned to recording in the early 1970s and continued to record until her death. She won seven Grammys in her lifetime for both solo and duet work, beginning with “Best Jazz Performance – Soloist” in 1971 and ending in the 1990s with “Best Jazz Vocal Performance – Female” in 1990. Sadly, while she got critical acclaim, record sales for none of the more than 60 albums she recorded ever reached the million mark, so she primarily made her living as a live performer.
While she was known to speak bluntly about racism, drugs, and even, oddly, bisexuality, McRae does not seem to have been a leader for social change as many Black performers have been. She appears to have been a strong supporter of the Democratic Party, using her celebrity status to help them, most notably during a 1983 telethon. Four days after a stroke, McRae died on November 10, 1994. In 2008, a massive fire at Universal Music Group destroyed much of her archived work, along with the music of hundreds of other artists.