Dee Dee Bridgewater (b. May 27, 1950) is an American Jazz singer. She is a… Read Full Bio ↴Dee Dee Bridgewater (b. May 27, 1950) is an American Jazz singer. She is a two-time Grammy Award Winner, Tony Award Winner and Host of NPR's Syndicated Radio show "JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater". She is a United Nations Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

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).

The Island
Dee Dee Bridgewater Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There's a far place, I'm told,
Where I'll find a field of gold,
But here I'll stay with you;

And they say there's an isle deep with clover,
Where your heart wears a smile all day through.

But I know well they're wrong,

And I know where I belong,
And here I'll stay with you.

For that land is a sandy illusion,
It's the theme of a dream gone astray;
And the world others woo
I can find loving you,
And so here I'll stay.

For that land is a sandy illusion,
It's the theme of a dream gone astray;
And the world others woo

I can find loving you,
And so here I guess I'll stay.

Overall Meaning

Dee Dee Bridgewater's song, The Island, centers around the idea of escapism and the search for a better life. The lyrics mention a "far place" where a "field of gold" can be found, as well as an "isle deep with clover" where "your heart wears a smile all day through." However, the singer disagrees with these notions and affirms her commitment to staying with her loved one, for she knows that the idea of a perfect paradise is just an illusion. She acknowledges that other people may be attracted to the promises of these far-off lands, but she finds everything she needs in the love of her partner.

The song is an exploration of the concept of home and what it means to the person singing. The lyrics suggest that home is not necessarily a physical place, but rather a feeling of emotional security and contentment. The singer recognizes that the grass may always seem greener on the other side, but she chooses to stay where she is because she has found what she's looking for. Ultimately, the song is a celebration of the joy of finding happiness within oneself and the people they share their life with.

Line by Line Meaning

There's a far place, I'm told,
Someone has told me about a distant place.

Where I'll find a field of gold,
That place is supposed to have a field of gold.

But here I'll stay with you;
Despite that, I have chosen to stay here with you.

And they say there's an isle deep with clover,
I've also heard about an island full of clovers.

Where your heart wears a smile all day through.
They claim it's a place where one's heart is always joyful.

But I know well they're wrong,
However, I'm sure they're mistaken.

And I know where I belong,
I am aware of where I truly belong.

And here I'll stay with you.
Right here with you is where I choose to stay.

For that land is a sandy illusion,
The place they described is just a false image.

It's the theme of a dream gone astray;
It's a product of an unfulfilled dream.

And the world others woo
Others may be attracted to the world and its offerings.