The Complete Dinah Washington On Mercury Vol. 6 (1958-1960)
Ruth Lee Jones (born August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; died December … Read Full Bio ↴Ruth Lee Jones (born August 29, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; died December 14, 1963 in Detroit, Michigan), better known by her stage name Dinah Washington and also as the Queen of the Blues, was an American Grammy award winning jazz singer best known for singing classic torch songs and her hit single What a Diff'rence a Day Makes. Her penetrating voice, excellent timing, and crystal-clear enunciation added her own distinctive style to every piece she undertook. While making extraordinary recordings in jazz, blues, rhythm and blues and light pop contexts, Washington refused to record gospel music despite her obvious talent in singing it, as she believed it wrong to mix the secular and spiritual.

Washington was born Ruth Jones in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. As she was growing up in Chicago, she played piano and directed her church choir. Later, she studied in Walter Dyett's renowned music program at DuSable High School. For a while, she split her time between performing in clubs as Dinah Washington while singing and playing piano in Salle Martin's gospel choir as Ruth Jones.

Washington began performing in 1942 and soon joined Lionel Hampton's band. In 1943, she began recording for Keynote Records and released "Evil Gal Blues", her first hit. By 1955, she had released numerous hit songs on the R&B charts, including "Baby, Get Lost", "Trouble in Mind", "You Don't Know What Love Is" (arranged by Quincy Jones), and a cover of "Cold, Cold Heart" by Hank Williams. In 1958 she made a well-received appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival.

With "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" 1959, Washington won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Performance; the song was her biggest hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. The commercially driven album of the same name, with its heavily reliance on strings and wordless choruses, was slammed by jazz and blues critics as being far too commercial, not keeping with her blues roots. Despite this, the album was a huge success and Washington continued to favor more commercial, pop-oriented songs rather than traditional blues and jazz songs. She also dealt in torch songs; her rendition of The Platters' "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" was well-regarded.

She was married seven times, and divorced six times while having several lovers, including Quincy Jones, her young arranger. She was known to be imperious and demanding in real life, but audiences loved her. In London she once declared, "...there is only one heaven, one earth and one queen...Queen Elizabeth is an impostor", but the crowd loved it.

Dinah Washington died from an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol at the age of 39 in 1963.
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The Complete Dinah Washington On Mercury Vol. 6 (1958-1960)
Dinah Washington Lyrics


A Bad Case of the Blues Immortal Miscellaneous A Perfect Vision Of The Rising Northl…
A Sunday Kind Of Love I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last,…
Again Ooh, it's almost two And I'm sitting here wishing that…
Alone Alone, alone with a sky of romance above Alone, alone…
Ask a Woman Who Knows He stays out every night And leaves me all alone He never…
Bad Luck I'm used to misfortune, baby Used to the bitter end I'm us…
Cold Cold Heart I tried so hard, my dear, to show that you're…
Come on Home Baby won't you please come home? 'Cause your daddy's all alo…
Crazy Love Nobody knows That I am a secret spy I follow you home Carefu…
Cry Me a River Now you say you're lonely You cried the whole night through …
Daybreak Daybreak--another new day The mist on the meadow is drifting…
Do You Want It That Way When I looked around, I felt so low down To find…
Don't Go To Strangers Build your dreams to the stars above But when you need…
Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying Don't let the sun catch you cryin' Cryin' at my front…
Early Every Morning Early every morning Early every evening too Early every morn…
Everybody Loves Somebody Well, everybody loves somebody sometime, Everybody falls in …
Fool That I Am Fool that I am, For falling in love with you. And, fool…
Forgotten I know he′ll never be forgotten He was a king uncrowned I…
Good Morning Heartache Good morning heartache You old gloomy sight Good morning hea…
Harbor Lights I saw the harbor lights They only told me we were…
Hurt I don't hurt anymore All my teardrops are dried No more walk…
I Believe I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a…
I Concentrate On You Whenever skies look gray to me And trouble begins to brew, W…
I Do I don't hurt anymore All my teardrops are dried No…
I Remember You Was it in Tahiti? Were we on the Nile? Long…
I Thought About You I took a trip on a train And I thought about…
I Understand Why do you go on pretending You know you want to…
I Wish I Didn't Love You So I wish I didn't love you so My love for you…
I Won't Cry Anymore I won't cry anymore, now that you've left me I won't…
I'm Thru With Love I'm thru with love, I'll never fall again. Said I do to…
I've Got It Bad And That Ain't Good The poets say that all who love are blind But I'm…
It Could Happen to You Hide your heart from sight Lock your dreams at night It coul…
It's Magic Why do I tell myself these things that happen Are all…
Lingering Although I know I'm doing wrong My love for you is…
Looking Back Looking ba-a-ack over my life I can see where I caused…
Lord You Made Us Human Lord, you made us human. I ask you, what a thing…
Love Walked in Love walked right in and drove the shadows away Love walked…
Manhattan We'll have Manhattan The Bronx and Staten Island too. It's l…
Misery Looking through the hole of time I can see the end…
Nothing in the World If I owned Aladdin's lamp I'd make all your dreams come…
Ole Santa A snow covered house on my hilltop Children playing by a…
Out Of Sight Out Of Mind Out of sight, out of mind So the story goes You forgot…
September in the Rain The leaves of brown came tumblin' down, remember In Septembe…
Somewhere Along the Line Somewhere along the line You met this heart of mine Would yo…
Stardust And now the purple dusk of twilight time Steals across the…
That's All There Is to That Did you ever watch the one you love Slowly drifting away…
The Age Of Miracles You dream a dream to make it real To love me…
The Light I saw the harbor lights They only told me we were…
There Goes My Heart There goes my heart, there goes the one I love There…
This Bitter Earth This bitter earth What fruit it bears What good is love That…
This Love of Mine This love of mine goes on and on, Tho' life is…
Time After Time Time after time you'll hear me say That I'm so lucky…
Unforgettable Unforgettable That's what you are Unforgettable Ooh, that's …
We Have Love I'll take the "L" from a lemon Then I'll squeeze it…
When I Fall In Love When I fall in love it will be forever Or I'll…
You Taught Me I'm tired of running From town to town Now I'm ready to…
You've Got Me Crying Again You've got me crying, crying, crying, crying, crying You've…


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