Editing Ethel Waters (section)

===Singing===
After her start in Baltimore, Waters toured on the black [[vaudeville]] circuit, in her words "from nine until unconscious." Despite her early success, she fell on hard times and joined a carnival traveling in freight cars headed for Chicago. She enjoyed her time with the carnival and recalled, "the roustabouts and the concessionaires were the kind of people I'd grown up with, rough, tough, full of larceny towards strangers, but sentimental and loyal to their friends and co-workers." But she did not last long with them and soon headed south to Atlanta, where she worked in the same club as [[Bessie Smith]]. Smith demanded that Waters not compete in singing blues opposite her. Waters conceded and sang [[ballad]]s and popular songs. Around 1919, Waters moved to [[Harlem]] and became a performer in the [[Harlem Renaissance]] of the 1920s.

Her first Harlem job was at Edmond's Cellar, a club with a black patronage that specialized in popular ballads. She acted in a [[blackface]] comedy, ''Hello 1919''. Jazz historian [[Rosetta Reitz]] pointed out that by the time Waters returned to Harlem in 1921, women blues singers were among the most powerful entertainers in the country. In 1921, Waters became the fifth black woman to make a record, for tiny [[Cardinal Records (1920s)|Cardinal Records]]. She later joined [[Black Swan Records|Black Swan]], where [[Fletcher Henderson]] was her accompanist. Waters later commented that Henderson tended to perform in a more classical style than she preferred, often lacking "the damn-it-to-hell bass."<ref>{{cite book|last=Waters|first=Ethel |author2=Samuels, Charles T. |title=His Eye on the Sparrow: An Autobiography |url=https://archive.org/details/hiseyeisonsparro00wate_0|url-access=registration|location=New York|publisher=Da Capo Press| page=[https://archive.org/details/hiseyeisonsparro00wate_0/page/147 147]| year=1992|isbn=978-0306804779 }}</ref>

[[File:CountBasieEthelWatersStageDoorCanteen2.jpg|thumb|Waters performs with [[Count Basie]] in ''[[Stage Door Canteen (film)|Stage Door Canteen]]'' (1943)]]

She recorded for Black Swan from 1921 through 1923.<ref name="Russell">{{cite book|first=Tony|last=Russell|year=1997|title=The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray|publisher=Carlton Books |location=Dubai|page=12|isbn=1-85868-255-X}}</ref> Her contract with Harry Pace made her the highest paid black recording artist at the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/blackswan.html|title=The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records|website=Redhotjazz.com|access-date=March 20, 2018|archive-date=April 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160427081238/http://www.redhotjazz.com/blackswan.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In early 1924, [[Paramount Records|Paramount]] bought Black Swan, and she stayed with Paramount through the year.

Around that time, Waters was approached by Maury Greenwald for the London run of ''[[Plantation Days]]'',<ref name=petersen/> although she later joined the company on its return to Chicago in August 1923, as an "extra added attraction" to "save the fast-flopping revue".<ref name=petersen>{{cite book | last=Peterson | first=Bernard L. | title=A century of musicals in black and white : an encyclopedia of musical stage works by about, or involving African Americans | publisher=Greenwood Press | publication-place=Westport, Conn. | date=1993 | isbn=0-313-06454-7 | oclc=65336150 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IJQyBe_wDj8C&q=Plantation+Days | pages=270–1 | access-date=January 29, 2023 | archive-date=October 7, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231007025735/https://books.google.com/books?id=IJQyBe_wDj8C&q=Plantation+Days | url-status=live }}</ref>

She started working with Pearl Wright, and they toured in the South. In 1924, Waters played at the Plantation Club on [[Broadway (Manhattan)|Broadway]]. She also toured with the Black Swan Dance Masters.

She first recorded for [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] in 1925, achieving a hit with "[[Dinah (song)|Dinah]]".

With Earl Dancer, she joined what was called the "white time" [[Keith Vaudeville Circuit]], a vaudeville circuit performing for white audiences and combined with screenings of silent movies. They received rave reviews in Chicago and earned the unheard-of salary of US$1,250 in 1928. In September 1926, Waters recorded "[[I'm Coming Virginia]]", composed by [[Donald Heywood]] with lyrics by [[Will Marion Cook]]. She is often wrongly attributed as the author. The following year, Waters sang it in a production of ''Africana'' at Broadway's Daly's Sixty-Third Street Theatre.<ref name="JS">{{cite web|url=http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-2/imcomingvirginia.htm|title=I'm Coming Virginia (1927)|website=Jazzstandards.com|access-date=March 14, 2017|archive-date=March 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315174230/http://www.jazzstandards.com/compositions-2/imcomingvirginia.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1929, Waters and Wright arranged the unreleased [[Harry Akst]] song "[[Am I Blue?]]", which was used in the movie ''[[On with the Show (1929 film)|On with the Show]]'' and became a hit and her signature song.<ref name="Heat Wave">{{cite book |last=Bogle |first=Donald |title=Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters |year=2011 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0062041722 |page=656 |url=https://archive.org/details/heatwavelifecare2011bogl |url-access=registration }}</ref>