Born Denise Eileen Garrett in Memphis, Tennessee, she grew up in Flint, Michigan. Her father, Matthew Garrett, was a jazz trumpeter and teacher at Manassas High School, and through his playing, Denise was exposed to jazz early on. At the age of sixteen, she was a member of a rock and rhythm'n'blues trio, singing in clubs in Michigan. At 18, she studied at Michigan State University before she went to the University of Illinois. With their jazz band, she toured the Soviet Union in 1969. The next year, she met trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater, and after their marriage, they moved to New York City, where Cecil played in Horace Silver's band.
In 1971, Dee Dee Bridgewater joined the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra as the lead vocalist. The next years marked the beginning of her jazz career, and she performed with many of the great jazz musicians of the time, such as Sonny Rollins, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Max Roach, and others. In 1974, her first own album, entitled Afro Blue, appeared, and she also performed on Broadway in the musical The Wiz. For her role as Glinda the Good Witch she won a Tony Award in 1975 as "best-featured actress", and the musical also won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.
She subsequently appeared in several other stage productions. After touring France in 1984 with the musical Sophisticated Ladies, she moved to Paris in 1986. The same year saw her in Lady Day as Billie Holliday, for which role she was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, she returned from the world of musical to jazz. She performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and four years later, she finally collaborated with Horace Silver, whom she had admired for a long time, and released the album Love and Peace: A Tribute to Horace Silver. Her 1997 tribute album Dear Ella won her the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album, and the 1998 album Live at Yoshi's was also worth a Grammy nomination. She has also explored on This is New the songs of Kurt Weill, and, on her latest album J'ai Deux Amours, the French Classics.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is the first American to be inducted to the Haut Conseil de la Francophonie. She has received the Award of Arts and Letters in France.
Dee Dee Bridgewater is mother to three children, Tulani Bridgewater (from her marriage to Cecil Bridgewater), China Moses (from her marriage to theater, film and television director Gilbert Moses) and Gabriel Durand (from her current marriage to French concert promoter Jean-Marie Durand).
Just Friends
Dee Dee Bridgewater Lyrics
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Just friends, but not like before
To think of what we've been and not to kiss again
Seems like pretending it isn't the ending
Two friends drifting apart
Two friends, but one broken heart
We loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died
The lyrics to this song, Just Friends, reflect on the end of a romantic relationship and the transition to being just friends with someone. The singer acknowledges that they were once lovers but have transitioned back to being friends, albeit not in the same way they used to be. There is a sense of sadness and mourning in the lyrics, as the singer talks about how hard it is to not kiss their former lover and how it feels like they are pretending that the relationship didn't end. The chorus repeats the phrase "just friends" as a way to cement the fact that the relationship has changed.
The second verse delves deeper into the emotions that come with the end of a romantic relationship. The singer describes how two people who were once close have started to drift apart, and how one of them is left with a broken heart. The final line of the verse is particularly poignant: "We loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died." This line encapsulates the roller-coaster of emotions that comes with any intimate relationship, and how it can all come crashing down so suddenly. Ultimately, the song is a bittersweet ode to the end of a relationship and the hope that it can be salvaged into a friendship.
Line by Line Meaning
Just friends, lovers no more
Our romantic relationship is over, but we are still friends.
Just friends, but not like before
Although we are still friends, our relationship has changed from what it used to be.
To think of what we've been and not to kiss again
It is difficult to accept that we have a history of being lovers and we cannot kiss again.
Seems like pretending it isn't the ending
It feels like we are in denial and trying to pretend that the end of our romantic relationship is not real.
Two friends drifting apart
Although we still care for each other, our friendship is moving in different directions.
Two friends, but one broken heart
We are trying to maintain our friendship, but one of us is more affected by the end of our romance.
We loved, we laughed, we cried, and suddenly love died
We had a deep and emotional relationship, but it ended abruptly without warning.
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Written by: JOHN KLENNER, SAM M. LEWIS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind