Pearl Bailey was a renowned American vocalist and actress known for her talent in singing and dynamic stage presence. She gained fame through her performances in vaudeville and Broadway, earning a Tony Award for her role in 'Hello Dolly!' and receiving numerous accolades throughout her career, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Bailey was also active in television and served as a cultural ambassador, leaving a lasting legacy in the entertainment industry until her death in 1990.

1. Pearl Bailey- An American Treasure
Vocalist. Actress. Ambassador. An American Treasure. That, in part, describes the life
and talent of singer Pearl Bailey. Born in Newport News, Virginia at the end of
World War One, her father was a pastor and her brother Bill a professional tap
dancer. From an early age, Pearl had a talent for singing and often sang in her
father Joseph’s church. Brother Bill suggested she enter an amateur contest at a
theatre in Philadelphia, where she won first place at the age of fifteen and was
offered her first singing job. She later won a similar competition at the Apollo
Theater in New York City’s Harlem and from there pursued her career in
entertainment.

2. Initially Bailey sang and danced in Vaudeville, appearing in various nightclubs in
Philadelphia in the ‘30s, and shortly thereafter began performing along the East
Coast. Her solo successes as a nightclub entertainer were followed by performances
with such musical stars of the period as Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. By the
start of the Second World War, Bailey toured the country performing with the USO,
where her talent and cleaver stage banter quickly make her a favorite with American
troops. After the war ended, Pearl settled in New York.
In 1946, Bailey made her Broadway debut in ‘Saint Louis Woman’. For her
performance, she won a Donaldson Award as the best Broadway newcomer. However,
Bailey’s most important and popular Broadway role would be as Dolly Levi in the
all-black version of ‘Hello Dolly!’ where she won a Tony Award for the title role.
The performance was so successful it played to sold-out houses and RCA Victor made
an original cast album. Bailey continued to tour and record albums in between her
stage and screen performances.
Her rendition of “Takes Two to Tango” hit the top ten in 1952. In the fall of that
same year, Bailey married jazz drummer Louie Bellson in London. They adopted a
boy, Tony, in the mid-1950s. A girl, Dee Dee J. Bellson, was born in 1960.
Throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, Pearl appeared on countless television variety shows
and hosted her own variety series on ABC, ‘The Pearl Bailey Show’. In addition to
television appearances, she continued to record and perform in live concert settings
and received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. Bailey returned to
Broadway in 1975, once again playing the lead in ‘Hello, Dolly!’, and that same
year was appointed special ambassador to the United Nations by President Gerald
Ford.
A passionate baseball fan, Bailey sang the national anthem prior to game five of the
‘69 World Series, and again sang the national anthem prior to game one of the ‘81
World Series between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers at Yankee
Stadium. She earned a degree in theology from Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C., in 1985.
In 1988 Bailey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan.

3. Pearl Bailey died at in Philadelphia on August 17, 1990. Bailey is buried at Rolling
Green Memorial Park in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Swing Street Radio pays tribute to Pearl Bailey all during March on the occasion of
her centennial birthday.
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