Anita Patti Brown

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Anita Patti Brown
AnitaPattiBrown1911.png
Anita Patti Brown, from a 1911 newspaper
Born
Patsie Bush or Patsie Dean

about 1870
Georgia, US
DiedDecember 27, 1950 (aged about 80)
Chicago, Illinois, US
OccupationSinger
Years active1900s–1930s

Anita Patti Brown (born about 1870, died December 27, 1950) was an American concert singer. She was sometimes billed as "the Bronze Tetrazzini". [1]

Contents

Early life

Patsie Bush [2] or Patsie Dean [3] was born in Georgia, and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee. [4] [5] She trained as a singer in Chicago, [6] and later studied in Europe with Victor Beigel. [7]

Career

Brown made her Chicago debut in 1903, [8] at the Chicago Opera House. She sang in Nashville in 1909, assisted by the Fisk Quartette. [9] She was described as "one of the most noted singers of the Race" when she appeared in Pittsburgh in 1911. [10] She sang at a benefit concert in Alabama in 1913. [11] In 1913 she appeared at the annual Atlanta Colored Music Festival, as featured soloist alongside Roland Hayes. [12] In 1914 she sang in a concert of Black composers in Chicago, sharing the bill with pianist Robert Nathaniel Dett and others. [13]

Brown sang in New York and Dallas in 1915. [14] She toured in South America [15] and the British West Indies, [16] and made a recording for Victor, in 1916. [17] She gave a concert at Poro College in St. Louis in 1918, [18] and after World War I toured with a military band. [4] She sang at church events in Spokane in 1921 [19] and 1923. [20] Her 1922 Los Angeles appearance prompted a reviewer to note that she was "a genuine prima donna" with "a dulcet voice of rare soprano altitude". [21] She sang in Chattanooga in 1929. [2] In 1934, she was featured at the annual meeting of the National Association of Negro Musicians, held in Pittsburgh. [22]

In 1920, Brown began "Patti's Brazilian Toilette Luxuries", a mail-order business selling cosmetics and perfume. [23] [24] In 1923, she successfully sued a Chicago drug store for refusing her service. [25] In the 1930s, she taught voice students at her Chicago studio. [3]

Personal life

Patsie Bush (or Patsie Dean) married Chicago choral director Arthur A. Brown. She died at home in Chicago in 1950, about 80 years old, [4] [8] though her Chicago Tribune obituary gave her age as 65 years. [26]

References

  1. ↑ "Noted Colored Soprano is to be Heard Here". Arizona Republic. 1921-02-20. p. 7. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 "Anita Patti Brown in Recital Wednesday". The Chattanooga News. 1929-10-15. p. 17. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 Brooks, Tim (2010). Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry, 1890-1919. University of Illinois Press. pp. 504–505. ISBN   978-0-252-09063-9.
  4. 1 2 3 Nettles, Darryl Glenn (2003). African American Concert Singers Before 1950. McFarland. p. 29. ISBN   978-0-7864-1467-3.
  5. ↑ "Anita Patti Brown Heard". Chattanooga Daily Times. 1917-11-30. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Brawley, Benjamin Griffith (1910). The Negro in Literature and Art. Author. p. 49.
  7. ↑ Allison, Madeline G. (April 1922). "The Horizon". The Crisis. 23: 266.
  8. 1 2 Southern, Eileen (1997). The Music of Black Americans: A History. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 282. ISBN   978-0-393-03843-9.
  9. ↑ "Madame Anita Patti Brown at Spruce Street". The Nashville Globe. April 23, 1909. p. 3. Retrieved February 20, 2021– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Mme. Anita Patti Brown". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1911-12-02. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Negro Songstress at the Lyceum Thursday Evening". The Decatur Daily. 1913-07-03. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Negro Music Festival Will be Gala Event; Plantation Melodies Will Be Big Feature". The Atlanta Constitution. 1913-06-29. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Along the Color Line: Music and Art". The Crisis. 8: 164. August 1914.
  14. ↑ "Along the Color Line: Music and Art". The Crisis. 10: 7. May 1915.
  15. ↑ "Mme Patti Brown Royally Received at Bahai, Brazil". The Chicago Defender. January 15, 1916. p. 1.
  16. ↑ "Along the Color Line: Music and Art". The Crisis. 11: 215. June 1916.
  17. ↑ "Brown, Anita Patti". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  18. ↑ "Hair Care Helped a Community: Black Entrepreneur Annie Malone and Poro College". Saving Places, National Trust for Historic Preservation. Retrieved 2021-02-20.
  19. ↑ "Colored Folk Give Concert". The Spokesman-Review. 1921-04-04. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ "Chicago Singer in Recital". The Spokesman-Review. 1923-01-14. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  21. ↑ Michel, Louis (1922-12-09). "Mme. Anita Patti Brown, Lyrical Originator". California Eagle. p. 1. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  22. ↑ "Fresh, Interesting Details Attract New Friends to Musicians' Confab". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1934-07-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
  23. ↑ "Patti Brown Agent". Phoenix Tribune. January 28, 1922. p. 3. Retrieved February 20, 2021– via NewspaperArchive.com.
  24. ↑ "Patti's Beauty Emporium (advertisement)". The Crisis. 21: 47. November 1920.
  25. ↑ "Patti Brown Is Victorious in Jim Crow Suit". The Chicago Defender. May 19, 1923. p. 1.
  26. ↑ "Mrs. Anita Patti Brown". Chicago Tribune. 1951-01-01. p. 67. Retrieved 2021-02-20– via Newspapers.com.
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