1. Joyce Bryant was an American singer, dancer, and civil rights activist who achieved fame in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a theater and nightclub performer.
12 Facts About Joyce Bryant
1. 2.
Joyce Bryant, the third of eight children, was born in Oakland, California, and raised in San Francisco.
3.
Joyce Bryant's mother, Dorthy Constance Withers, was a devout Seventh-day Adventist.
4.
Joyce Bryant's maternal grandfather, Frank Withers, was an early jazz trombonist.
5.
Joyce Bryant eloped at the age of 14 but the marriage ended that same evening.
6.
Joyce Bryant was critical of racial billing practices at night clubs and hotels and advocated for entertainers as a group to fight Jim Crow laws.
7.
Joyce Bryant earned up to $3500 a performance in the early 1950s, but she had grown weary of the industry.
8.
Joyce Bryant was once beaten in her dressing room after rejecting a man's advances.
9.
Disillusioned, Joyce Bryant returned to entertaining in the 1960s and trained with vocal teacher Frederick Wilkerson at Howard University, which led to her winning a contract with the New York City Opera.
10.
Joyce Bryant toured internationally with the Italian, French, and Vienna Opera companies.
11.
Joyce Bryant returned to performing jazz in the 1980s and began a career as a vocal instructor, with such clients as Jennifer Holliday, Phyllis Hyman, and Raquel Welch.
12.
Joyce Bryant died of complications from Alzheimer's disease in Los Angeles on November 20,2022, at the age of 95.