Editing Ethel Waters

{{Short description|American vocalist and actress (1896–1977)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name                = Ethel Waters
| image               = Ethel Waters - 1943.jpg
| caption              = Waters in ''[[Cabin in the Sky (film)|Cabin in the Sky]]'', 1943
| birth_date          ={{birth date|1896|10|31|mf=yes}}<ref name=Gog/>
| birth_place         =[[Chester, Pennsylvania]], U.S.
| death_date          ={{death date and age|1977|9|1|1896|10|31|mf=yes}}
| death_place         = [[Chatsworth, Los Angeles|Chatsworth, California]], U.S.
| resting_place       = [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park]], [[Glendale, California]], U.S.
| alias                 = {{hlist|Ethel Howard|Sweet Mama Stringbean}}
| occupation          = {{hlist|Actress|singer}}
| years_active        = 1917–1977
| spouse              = {{marriage|Merritt Purnsley |1910|1913|reason=div.}}<ref name=LEA/><br />{{marriage|Clyde E. Matthews |1929|1933|reason=div.}}<ref name=Gog/><br />{{marriage|Edward Mallory |1938|1945|end=divorced}}<ref name=Boo>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cPdDLXYWWaUC&q=ethel+waters+husband&pg=PA118|title=Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Lindy Hop|first1=Frankie|last1=Manning|first2=Cynthia R.|last2=Millman|year= 2018|publisher=[[Temple University Press]]|access-date=July 10, 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=978-1592135639}}</ref>
| relatives           = [[Crystal Waters]]<ref name=VIC>{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/crystal-waters-gypsy-woman-interview/|title=The Story of Crystal Waters' "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)"|date=April 8, 2016|website=Thump.vice.com|access-date=July 10, 2018|archive-date=September 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170905053730/https://thump.vice.com/en_us/article/jp4gkp/crystal-waters-gypsy-woman-interview|url-status=live}}</ref> (great-niece)
| module              = {{Infobox musical artist|embed=yes
| background       = solo_singer
| instrument        = Vocals
| genre              = {{hlist|[[Jazz]]|[[gospel music|Gospel]]|[[Blues]]}}
| label               = {{hlist|[[Cardinal Records (1920s)|Cardinal]]|[[Black Swan Records|Black Swan]]|[[Columbia Records|Columbia]]|[[Brunswick Records|Brunswick]]|[[Decca Records|Decca]]|[[Liberty Music Shop Records|Liberty Music Shop]]|[[Word Records|Word]]}}
}}
}}
'''Ethel Waters''' (October 31, 1896&nbsp;– September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her notable recordings include "[[Dinah (song)|Dinah]]", "[[Stormy Weather (song)|Stormy Weather]]", "[[Taking a Chance on Love]]", "[[Heat Wave (Irving Berlin song)|Heat Wave]]", "[[Supper Time]]", "[[Am I Blue?]]", "[[Cabin in the Sky (film)|Cabin in the Sky]]", "[[I'm Coming Virginia]]", and her version of "[[His Eye Is on the Sparrow]]". Waters was the second [[African American]] to be nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]], the first African American to star on her own television show, and the first African-American woman to be nominated for a [[Primetime Emmy Award]].

==Early life==
Ethel Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, on October 31, 1896 (some sources incorrectly state her birth year as 1900<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ethel-Waters |title=Ethel Waters |website=Britannica.com |access-date=July 10, 2018 |archive-date=October 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024142035/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ethel-Waters |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Gog>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7bTFQSfZboC&q=ethel+waters+father&pg=PA2 |title=Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather |first=Stephen|last=Bourne|year= 2018|publisher=Scarecrow Press|access-date=July 10, 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0810859029 }}</ref><ref>In her second autobiography, [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10268482-to-me-it-s-wonderful ''To Me, It's Wonderful''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170524045200/http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10268482-to-me-it-s-wonderful |date=May 24, 2017 }}, Waters stated that she was born in 1896. She had explained in the first autobiography, ''His Eye is on the Sparrow'', that, in order to get a group insurance deal, friends had persuaded her to say that she was born in 1900.</ref>) to African-American mother Louise Anderson (1881–1962). Her birth was the result of the rape of teenaged Louise Anderson<ref name=Gog/> by 17-year-old John Wesley (a.k.a. Wesley John) Waters (1878–1901),<ref name=Gog/> a pianist and family acquaintance from a middle-class African-American background. Waters' family was very fair-skinned, his mother in particular.<ref name="bourne2007">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersstorm0000bour|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersstorm0000bour/page/2 2]|title=Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather|last=Bourne|first=Stephen|date=2007|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-5902-9|language=en}}</ref> Waters played no role in raising his daughter.<ref>{{cite web |author=McElrath, Jessica |title=Remembering the Career of Ethel Waters |url=http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/ethelwaters/a/bio_waters_e.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090218181200/http://afroamhistory.about.com/od/ethelwaters/a/bio_waters_e.htm |archive-date=February 18, 2009 |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref> Many sources, including Ethel herself, reported for years that her mother was 12 or 13 years old at the time of the rape, and 13 when Ethel was born.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://christianindex.org/ethel-waters-sparrow-soared/|title=Ethel Waters: The Sparrow that Soared|last=Hale|first=Ron F.|date=May 2, 2016|website=The Christian Index|language=en-US|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=July 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721211550/https://christianindex.org/ethel-waters-sparrow-soared/|url-status=live}}</ref> Stephen Bourne opens his 2007 biography, ''Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather'', with the statement that genealogical research has shown that Louise Anderson may have been 15 or 16 years old.<ref name="bourne2007"/> 

Soon after Waters was born, her mother married Norman Howard, a railroad worker, with whom she had a daughter, Juanita Howard, Ethel's half-sister. Ethel used the surname Howard as a child and then reverted to using the surname Waters.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ethel_Waters.aspx Ethel Waters. Encyclopedia.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927114115/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ethel_Waters.aspx |date=September 27, 2016 }}. Retrieved September 25, 2016.</ref> She was raised in poverty by Sally Anderson, her grandmother, who worked as a housemaid, and with two of her aunts and an uncle.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Notable Women in the American Theatre: A Biographical Dictionary|url=https://archive.org/details/notablewomeninam0000robi|url-access=limited|publisher=Greenwood Press |year=1989|editor-last=Robinson|editor-first=Alice M.|location=Westport, Connecticut|page=[https://archive.org/details/notablewomeninam0000robi/page/903 903]|isbn=978-0313272172|editor-last2=Roberts|editor-first2=Vera Mowry|editor-last3=Barranger|editor-first3=Milly}}</ref> Waters never lived in the same place for more than 15 months. Of her difficult childhood, she said "I never was a child. I never was cuddled, liked, or understood by my family."<ref>{{cite book |last=Waters |first=Ethel |author2=Samuels, Charles T. |title=His Eye on the Sparrow: An Autobiography|url=https://archive.org/details/hiseyeisonsparro00water|url-access=registration|location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1951}}</ref>

Waters grew tall, standing {{convert|5|ft|9.5|in|m}} in her teens. According to jazz historian and archivist [[Rosetta Reitz]], Waters's birth in the North and her peripatetic (or nomadic) life exposed her to many cultures. Waters first married in 1910 at the age of 13, but her husband was abusive, and she soon left the marriage and became a maid in a Philadelphia hotel, working for $4.75 per week. On her 17th birthday, she attended a costume party at a nightclub on Juniper Street. She was persuaded to sing two songs and impressed the audience so much that she was offered professional work at the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore.<ref name="lincoln">{{cite web |title=Baltimore Afro-American |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpI8AAAAIBAJ&pg=2759%2C6335293 |website=news.google.com |publisher=Baltimore Afro-American |access-date=March 17, 2011 |date=September 12, 1959}}</ref>  The job singing and dancing in Baltimore netted her $9 a week, with two of her friends weekly skimming $16 for getting her the job.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1977-09-02 |title=Ethel Waters Is Dead at 80 (Published 1977) |work=The New York Times |language=en |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/02/archives/ethel-waters-is-dead-at-80-ethel-waters-singer-and-actress-on-stage.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare |access-date=2023-08-16 |last1=Fraser |first1=C. Gerald |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812103306/https://www.nytimes.com/1977/09/02/archives/ethel-waters-is-dead-at-80-ethel-waters-singer-and-actress-on-stage.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Career==
===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>

===Film, theater and television===

In 1933, Waters appeared in a satirical all-black film, ''[[Rufus Jones for President]]'', which featured the child performer [[Sammy Davis Jr.]] as Rufus Jones.

She went on to star at the [[Cotton Club]], where, according to her autobiography, she "sang '[[Stormy Weather (song)|Stormy Weather]]' from the depths of the private hell in which I was being crushed and suffocated." In 1933, she had a featured role in the successful [[Irving Berlin]] Broadway musical revue ''[[As Thousands Cheer]]'' with [[Clifton Webb]], [[Marilyn Miller]], and [[Helen Broderick]].<ref name=":0" /> She became the first black woman to integrate Broadway's theater district more than a decade after actor [[Charles Sidney Gilpin|Charles Gilpin]]'s critically acclaimed performances in the plays of [[Eugene O'Neill]] beginning with ''[[The Emperor Jones]]'' in 1920.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/pivotal-moments-in-broadways-black-history-com-342101|title=Pivotal Moments in Broadway's Black History|last=Simpson|first=Janice|date=February 22, 2015|website=Playbill|access-date=March 7, 2018|archive-date=March 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306032403/http://www.playbill.com/article/pivotal-moments-in-broadways-black-history-com-342101|url-status=live}}</ref>

Waters held three jobs: in ''As Thousands Cheer'', as a singer for [[Jack Denny]] & His Orchestra on a national radio program,<ref name=":0" /> and in nightclubs. She became the highest-paid performer on Broadway.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters |title=Ethel Waters |website=Encyclopedia.com |via=Contemporary Black Biography, Thomson Gale, 2005 |access-date=March 7, 2018 |archive-date=October 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024142038/https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/literature-and-arts/music-popular-and-jazz-biographies/ethel-waters |url-status=live }}</ref> Despite this status, she had difficulty finding work. She moved to Los Angeles to appear in the 1942 film ''[[Cairo (1942 film)|Cairo]]''. During the same year, she reprised her starring stage role as Petunia in the all-black film musical ''[[Cabin in the Sky (film)|Cabin in the Sky]]'' directed by [[Vincente Minnelli]], and starring [[Lena Horne]] as the ''[[Ingénue (stock character)|ingénue]]''. Conflicts arose when Minnelli swapped songs from the original script between Waters and Horne:<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/17710|title=Cabin in the Sky|last=Looney|first=Deborah|website=Turner Classic Movies|access-date=March 7, 2018|archive-date=February 12, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200212044010/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/17710%7C0/Cabin-in-the-Sky.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Waters wanted to perform "Honey in the Honeycomb" as a ballad, but Horne wanted to dance to it. Horne broke her ankle and the songs were reversed. She got the ballad and Waters the dance. Waters sang the Academy Award-nominated "[[Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe|Happiness is Just a Thing Called Joe]]".<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Ethel Waters Warnecke.jpg|alt=Ethel Waters in a hat smoking a pipe.|thumb|Photograph of Ethel Waters in costume by Harry Warnecke and Robert F. Cranston.]]
In 1939, Waters became the first African American to star in her own television show:<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ethel Waters |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=National Museum of African American History and Culture |language=en |archive-date=June 28, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628221712/https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethel Waters {{!}} The Stars {{!}} Broadway: The American Musical {{!}} PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/ |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=Broadway: The American Musical |language=en-US |archive-date=October 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024142037/https://www.pbs.org/wnet/broadway/stars/ethel-waters/ |url-status=live }}</ref> ''[[The Ethel Waters Show]]'', a variety special, appeared on NBC's New York station on June 14, 1939. It included a dramatic performance of the Broadway play ''[[Mamba's Daughters]]'', based on the [[Gullah]] community of [[South Carolina]] and produced with her in mind.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://aaregistry.org/story/first-black-seen-on-television/|title=First Black Seen on Television|newspaper=African American Registry|access-date=February 15, 2018|archive-date=April 2, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402114443/https://aaregistry.org/story/first-black-seen-on-television/|url-status=live}}</ref> The play was based on the novel by [[DuBose Heyward]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/mambas-daughters-empire-theatre-vault-0000003962 |title=Mamba's Daughters Broadway |website=Playbill |access-date=March 1, 2017 |archive-date=March 2, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170302193840/http://www.playbill.com/production/mambas-daughters-empire-theatre-vault-0000003962 |url-status=live }}</ref>[[File:Ethel Waters - William P. Gottlieb.jpg|thumb|Waters c. 1945]]

Waters was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress]] for the film ''[[Pinky (film)|Pinky]]'' (1949) under the direction of [[Elia Kazan]] after the first director, [[John Ford]], quit over disagreements with Waters. According to producer [[Darryl F. Zanuck]], Ford "hated that old...woman (Waters)." Ford, Kazan stated, "didn't know how to reach Ethel Waters." Kazan later referred to Waters's "truly odd combination of old-time religiosity and free-flowing hatred."<ref name="Eyman">{{cite book |last1=Eyman |first1=Scott |title=Print the Legend: The Life and Times of John Ford |date=1999 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |page=361}}</ref>

In 1950, she won the [[New York Drama Critics Circle Award]] for her performance opposite [[Julie Harris (American actress)|Julie Harris]] in the play ''The Member of the Wedding''. Waters and Harris repeated their roles in [[The Member of the Wedding (film)|the 1952 film version]].

In 1950, Waters was the first African-American actress to star in a television series, ''[[Beulah (series)|Beulah]],'' which aired on ABC television from 1950 through 1952.<ref name="harry">{{cite web |title=Beulah: Harry Builds a Den |url=http://www.tv.com/shows/beulah/harry-builds-a-den-1098407/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131009043047/http://www.tv.com/shows/beulah/harry-builds-a-den-1098407/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 9, 2013 |website=TV.com |access-date=May 14, 2020 |quote=Some sources indicate that the series ended in 1953. The last episode, "Harry Builds A Den", aired on Dec. 23, 1952. }}</ref> It was the first nationally broadcast weekly television series starring an African American in the leading role. She starred as Beulah for the first year of the TV series before quitting in 1951,<ref name="Lance">{{cite book |last1=Lance |first1=Steven |title=Written Out of Television: A TV Lover's Guide to Cast Changes, 1945–1994 |date=1996 |publisher=Madison Books |location=Lanham, Maryland |isbn=1-56833-070-7}}</ref> complaining that the portrayal of blacks was "degrading." She was replaced by [[Louise Beavers]] in the second and third season.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/beulah |title=Beulah |website=Archive of American Television |access-date=March 1, 2017 |archive-date=February 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180210180418/http://emmytvlegends.org/interviews/shows/beulah |url-status=live }}</ref> She guest-starred in 1957 and 1959 on NBC's ''[[The Ford Show|The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford]]''. In a 1957 segment, she sang "Cabin in the Sky".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersstorm0000bour|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersstorm0000bour/page/96 96]|author=Bourne, Stephen|title=Ethel Waters: Stormy Weather |location=Lanham, Maryland |publisher=Scarecrow Press|date= 2007|isbn =978-0-8108-5902-9 |access-date=November 25, 2010}}</ref>

[[File:Ethel Waters 1957.jpg|thumb|right|Waters in 1957]]

==Personal life==
Her first autobiography, ''His Eye Is on the Sparrow'', (1951), written with [[Charles Samuels]], was adapted for the stage by Larry Parr and premiered on October 7, 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow-musical-bio-of-ethel-waters-premieres-in-florida-oct-7-com-128509|title=His Eye is on the Sparrow, Musical Bio of Ethel Waters, Premieres in Florida Oct. 7|last=Jones|first=Kenneth|date=October 7, 2005|website=Playbill|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=January 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102050419/http://www.playbill.com/article/his-eye-is-on-the-sparrow-musical-bio-of-ethel-waters-premieres-in-florida-oct-7-com-128509|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1953, she appeared in a Broadway show, ''At Home With Ethel Waters'' that opened on September 22, 1953, and closed October 10 after 23 performances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/production/at-home-with-ethel-waters-48th-street-theatre-vault-0000000250|title=At Home with Ethel Waters Broadway|website=Playbill|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=December 19, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219181211/http://www.playbill.com/production/at-home-with-ethel-waters-48th-street-theatre-vault-0000000250|url-status=live}}</ref>

Waters married three times and had no children. When she was 13, she married Merritt "Buddy" Purnsley in 1909; they divorced in 1913.<ref name="LEA">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/voicesofjoyvoice0000dobr |url-access=registration|quote=ethel waters husband.|title=Voices of joy, Voices of Freedom: Ethel Waters, Sammy Davis, Jr., Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson, Lena Horne |first=Arnold |last=Dobrin |date=July 10, 1972|publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan|access-date=July 10, 2018|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> She married Clyde Edwards Matthews in 1929, and they divorced in 1933.<ref name="Gog" /> She married Edward Mallory<ref name="Boo" /> in 1938; they divorced in 1945.<ref name="Gog" /> Waters was the great-aunt of the singer-songwriter [[Crystal Waters]].<ref name="VIC" /> Waters may have also been married briefly to Earl Dancer in 1927.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 24, 1927|title="Flo Mills" Club Organized, The Black Dispatch, p. 6|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/872015418/|access-date=October 6, 2023|website=newspapers.com|language=en-US|archive-date=January 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107145506/https://www.newspapers.com/image/872015418/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=June 1, 1925|title="New York, U.S., State Census, 1925|url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/6865741?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227668734d5832594d4f656a4545534939576c66526d374276356f4a72494e6f37736f4c6f5833356d39466f3d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d|access-date=October 6, 2023|website=ancestry.com|language=en-US|archive-date=January 7, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107145512/https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/6865741?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a227668734d5832594d4f656a4545534939576c66526d374276356f4a72494e6f37736f4c6f5833356d39466f3d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to the [[National Museum of African American History and Culture]], Waters identified as [[Bisexuality|bisexual]] early in her career, though she never spoke publicly about her sexuality, and had a large gay and lesbian following that included photographer [[Carl Van Vechten]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |title=Ethel Waters |url=https://nmaahc.si.edu/ethel-waters |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=[[National Museum of African American History and Culture]] |language=en}}</ref> During the early 1920s, she reportedly lived in Harlem with dancer Ethel Williams, identified by several historical retrospectives as her romantic partner.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-12 |title=As an African American, LGBTQ+ Woman, Ethel Waters Shaped U.S. Entertainment |url=https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/african-american-lgbtq-woman-ethel-waters-shaped-us-entertainment |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=[[Smithsonian American Women's History Museum]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=Taylor |first1=Derrick Bryson |last2=Reinhard |first2=Scott |date=2024-10-09 |title=When Harlem Was 'as Gay as It Was Black' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/09/realestate/harlem-renaissance-lgbtq.html |access-date=2024-10-10 |work=[[The New York Times]] |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Woolner |first=Cookie |title="Have We a New Sex Problem Here?" Black Queer Women in the Early Great Migration |url=https://www.oah.org/process/woolner-black-queer-women/ |access-date=2024-10-09 |website=[[Organization of American Historians]]}}</ref> This residence has been documented by the [[NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project]], who write that Waters was "well known in Harlem's lesbian circles" and that she and Williams were known to lesbian activist [[Mabel Hampton]] as "the two Ethels".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ethel Waters Residence |url=https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/ethel-waters-residence/ |access-date=2024-10-10 |website=[[NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project]]}}</ref> Singer [[Elisabeth Welch]] gave a similar account to British lesbian magazine [[Diva (magazine)|''Diva'']] in 1997.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Aldrich |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Aldrich (historian) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zLWTqBmifh0C&dq=ethel+waters+lgbt&pg=PA558 |title=Who's who in Gay and Lesbian History: From Antiquity to World War II |last2=Wotherspoon |first2=Garry |date=2002 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis|Psychology Press]] |isbn=978-0-415-15983-8 |page=558 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1938, Waters met artist [[Luigi Lucioni]] through their mutual friend, [[Carl Van Vechten]]. Lucioni asked Waters if he could paint her portrait, and a sitting was arranged at his studio at 64 Washington Square South. Waters bought the finished portrait from Lucioni in 1939 for $500. She was at the height of her career and the first African American to have a starring role on Broadway. In her portrait, she wore a tailored red dress with a mink coat draped over the back of her chair. Lucioni positioned Waters with her arms tightly wrapped around her waist, a gesture that conveyed vulnerability, as if she were trying to protect herself. The painting was considered lost because it had not been seen in public since 1942. [[Huntsville Museum of Art|Huntsville (Alabama) Museum of Art]] Executive Director Christopher J. Madkour and historian Stuart Embury traced it to a private residence. The owner considered Waters to be "an adopted grandmother"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://whnt.com/2018/02/01/huntsville-museum-of-art-celebrates-black-history-month-with-highly-sought-after-portrait-of-ethel-waters/|title=Huntsville Museum of Art celebrates Black History Month with newly acquired portrait of Ethel Waters|date=February 2, 2018|website=WHNT.com|language=en|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=January 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102050419/https://whnt.com/2018/02/01/huntsville-museum-of-art-celebrates-black-history-month-with-highly-sought-after-portrait-of-ethel-waters/|url-status=live}}</ref> but she allowed the Huntsville Museum of Art to display ''Portrait of Ethel Waters'' in the 2016 exhibition ''American Romantic: The Art of Luigi Lucioni'' where it was viewed by the public for the first time in more than 70 years. The museum acquired ''Portrait of Ethel Waters'' in 2017, and it was shown in an exhibition in February 2018.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Art and Soul - Luigi Lucioni and Ethel Waters: A Friendship|last=Embury|first=Dr. Stuart|publisher=Huntsville Museum of Art |year=2018 |location=Huntsville, Alabama |pages=3, 22}}</ref>

A turning point came in 1957 when she attended the [[New York Crusade (1957)|Billy Graham Crusade]] in Madison Square Garden. Years later, she gave this testimony of that night: "In 1957, I, Ethel Waters, a 380-pound decrepit old lady, rededicated my life to Jesus Christ, and boy, because He lives, just look at me now. I tell you because He lives; and because my precious child, Billy, gave me the opportunity to stand there, I can thank God for the chance to tell you His eye is on all of us sparrows."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://christianindex.org/ethel-waters-sparrow-soared/ |title=Ethel Waters: The Sparrow that Soared |last=Hale |first=Ron F. |date=May 2, 2016 |publisher=Christian Index |access-date=July 21, 2019 |archive-date=July 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721211550/https://christianindex.org/ethel-waters-sparrow-soared/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Ethel Waters: I Touched a Sparrow |url=https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersitouc00knaa |url-access=registration |last=Knaack |first=Twila |publisher=Word Books |year=1978 |page=[https://archive.org/details/ethelwatersitouc00knaa/page/41 41]|isbn=978-0849900846 }}</ref> In her later years, Waters often toured with the preacher [[Billy Graham]] on his crusades.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EismAAAAIBAJ&pg=2435,2042319 |title=Ethel Waters Remembered |author=White, Alvin E. |date=November 19, 1977 |newspaper=The Afro American |access-date=November 16, 2010 |archive-date=January 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107145508/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=EismAAAAIBAJ&pg=2435,2042319 |url-status=live }}</ref> She was a baptized [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] and considered herself a member of that religion throughout her life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2002-05-20 |title=Of Many Things |url=https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/373/many-things/many-things |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=America Magazine |language=en |archive-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905132025/https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/373/many-things/many-things |url-status=live }}</ref>

Waters died on September 1, 1977, aged 80, from [[uterine cancer]], [[kidney failure]], and other ailments, in Chatsworth, California.<ref name="Bogle">{{cite book |last1=Bogle |first1=Donald |title=Heat Wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780061241741 |url-access=registration |date=2011 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York|isbn=978-0061241741 }}</ref> She is buried at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]].<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'' (3d ed.). McFarland & Company. Kindle edition. Kindle location 49813.</ref> Waters had given a collection of her papers, recordings, and personal effects to her friend Joan Croomes, which were later placed at the [[Harry Ransom Center]] where they are now available for research.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Ransom Center Digitizes Rare Script of In Dahomey and Photographs from Early Life of Ethel Waters, Pioneering African American Performer |url=https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releases/2024/harry-ransom-center-digitizes-rare-script-and-photographs-from-early-life-of-ethel-waters.html |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=www.hrc.utexas.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Barnes |first=Michael |date=December 11, 2024 |title=UT Ransom Center new home for archives of singer Ethel Waters, pioneering Black star |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/news/history/2024/12/11/ethel-waters-pioneer-ut-austin-ransom-center-university-texas-archives-recordings-photographs-papers/76868834007/ |access-date=December 11, 2024 |work=Austin American-Statesman}}</ref>

''Ethel'' was written and performed by Terry Burrell as a one-woman tribute to Waters. It ran as a limited engagement in February and March 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.playbill.com/article/terry-burrell-is-ethel-waters-in-world-premiere-musical-ethel-opening-feb-23-at-walnut-street-com-187722|title=Terry Burrell Is Ethel Waters in World-Premiere Musical Ethel!, Opening Feb. 23 at Walnut Street|last=Gioia|first=Michael|date=February 23, 2012|website=Playbill|language=en|access-date=January 2, 2020|archive-date=January 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200102050418/http://www.playbill.com/article/terry-burrell-is-ethel-waters-in-world-premiere-musical-ethel-opening-feb-23-at-walnut-street-com-187722|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Awards and honors==
* Her recording of "[[Stormy Weather (song)|Stormy Weather]]" (1933) was listed in the [[List of recordings preserved in the United States National Recording Registry|National Recording Registry]] by the [[National Recording Preservation Board]] of the [[Library of Congress]] in 2003.
* [[Gospel Music Hall of Fame]], 1983
* Christian Music Hall of Fame, 2007<ref>{{cite web|title=Christian Music Hall of Fame|url=http://hallmuseum.com/artist.htm|publisher=Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum|date=January 20, 2008|access-date=February 6, 2008|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205112320/http://hallmuseum.com/artist.htm|archive-date=February 5, 2008}}</ref>
* Waters was approved for a star on the [[Hollywood Walk of Fame]] in 2004; however, the star was never funded or installed.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Star for Ethel Waters: Home |url=http://www.ethelwatersstar.com/ |website=www.ethelwatersstar.com |access-date=November 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925200611/http://ethelwatersstar.com/ |archive-date=September 25, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://beenhere.org/2017/10/31/ethel-waters/|title=Ethel Waters|date=October 31, 2017|publisher=National Black Justice Coalition|accessdate=August 16, 2021|archive-date=August 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210816183703/https://beenhere.org/2017/10/31/ethel-waters/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* In 2015, a historical marker memorializing Waters was unveiled along [[Pennsylvania Route 291|Route 291]] in [[Chester, Pennsylvania]] to recognize her life and talents in the city of her birth.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Quinn|first1=Rose|title=Chester great Ethel Waters memorialized in marker on Route 291|url=http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20150628/NEWS/150629662|website=Delcotimes.com|date=June 14, 2000|access-date=September 25, 2017|archive-date=September 25, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170925230614/http://www.delcotimes.com/article/DC/20150628/NEWS/150629662|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Commemorative stamp, [[United States Postal Service|U.S. Post Office]], 1994<ref>{{cite web|author=Tucker, Richard|title=Ethel Waters: Commemorative Stamp|url=http://esperstamps.org/aa21.htm|publisher=Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections |date=July 3, 2003|access-date=February 6, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908063711/http://esperstamps.org/aa21.htm |archive-date=September 8, 2008 }}</ref>
* Nomination, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Awards, ''[[Pinky (film)|Pinky]]'' 1949<ref>{{cite news|title=Awards Database: Ethel Waters|url=http://theenvelope.latimes.com/factsheets/awardsdb/env-awards-db-search,0,7169155.htmlstory?searchtype=all&query=Ethel+Waters&x=19&y=4|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=February 6, 2008|archive-date=April 4, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404060048/http://theenvelope.latimes.com/factsheets/awardsdb/env-awards-db-search,0,7169155.htmlstory?searchtype=all&query=Ethel+Waters&x=19&y=4|url-status=live}}</ref>
* Nomination, Outstanding Single Performance by an Actress in a Series, [[Primetime Emmy Awards]], for ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]'' "Goodnight Sweet Blues", 1962
* Three recordings by Waters were inducted into the [[Grammy Hall of Fame Award|Grammy Hall of Fame]], a special Grammy Award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old and have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable
|+ Ethel Waters: [[Grammy Hall of Fame Award]]s<ref name=fame>{{cite web|title=Grammy Hall of Fame |url=http://www.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame |publisher=The Recording Academy. |year=2007 |access-date=February 6, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101224205742/http://www2.grammy.com/Recording_Academy/Awards/Hall_Of_Fame/ |archive-date=December 24, 2010 }}</ref>
|-
! Year
! Title
! Genre
! Label
! Year inducted
|- align=center
| 1929
| "[[Am I Blue?]]"
| Traditional Pop (Single)
| Columbia
| 2007
|- align=center
| 1933
| "[[Stormy Weather (song)|Stormy Weather]]"<br />(Keeps Rainin' All The Time)
| Jazz (Single)
| Brunswick
| 2003
|- align=center
| 1925
| "Dinah"
| Traditional Pop (Single)
| Columbia
| 1998
|}

==Hit records==
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Year
!Single
![[Billboard Hot 100|US chart]]<ref>{{cite book|title=Pop Memories: 1890-1954|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|year=1986|publisher=Record Research|isbn=0-89820-083-0|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit}}</ref>
|-
|rowspan="2"|1921
|"Down Home Blues"
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
|"[[There'll Be Some Changes Made]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|-
|rowspan="2"|1922
|"Spread Yo' Stuff"
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
|"[[Tiger Rag]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|14
|-
|1923
|"Georgia Blues"
| style="text-align:center;"|10
|-
|1925
|"[[Sweet Georgia Brown]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|rowspan="3"|1926
|"[[Dinah (song)|Dinah]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|"[[I've Found a New Baby]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|11
|-
|"[[Sugar (Maceo Pinkard song)|Sugar]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|1927
|"[[I'm Coming Virginia|I'm Coming, Virginia]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|10
|-
|rowspan="3"|1929
|"[[Am I Blue?]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|"Birmingham Bertha"
| style="text-align:center;"|20
|-
|"True Blue Lou"
| style="text-align:center;"|15
|-
|rowspan="5"|1931
|"[[Three Little Words (song)|Three Little Words]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|8
|-
|"[[I Got Rhythm]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|-
|"You Can't Stop Me from Lovin' You"
| style="text-align:center;"|13
|-
|"[[Shine On, Harvest Moon]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|"River, Stay 'Way from My Door"
| style="text-align:center;"|18
|-
|rowspan="4"|1933
|"[[Stormy Weather (song)|Stormy Weather]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|"[[Don't Blame Me (Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh song)|Don't Blame Me]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|6
|-
|"[[Heat Wave (Irving Berlin song)|Heat Wave]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
|"[[A Hundred Years from Today]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
|rowspan="2"|1934
|"Come Up and See Me Sometime"
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|"[[Miss Otis Regrets|Miss Otis Regrets (She's Unable to Lunch Today)]]"
| style="text-align:center;"|19
|-
|1938
|"You're a Sweetheart"
| style="text-align:center;"|16
|}

==Filmography==
===Features===
{| class="wikitable sortable" 
|-
! Year
!  Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1929 || ''[[On with the Show (1929 film)|On with the Show]]'' || Ethel ||
|-
|1934 || ''[[Gift of Gab (film)|Gift of Gab]]'' || Ethel Waters ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1942 || ''[[Tales of Manhattan]]'' || Esther ||
|-
| ''[[Cairo (1942 film)|Cairo]]'' || Cleona Jones ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1943 || ''[[Cabin in the Sky (film)|Cabin in the Sky]]'' ||Petunia Jackson ||
|-
| ''[[Stage Door Canteen (film)|Stage Door Canteen]]'' || Ethel Waters ||
|-
|1949 || ''[[Pinky (film)|Pinky]]'' || Dicey Johnson ||
|-
|1952 || ''[[The Member of the Wedding (film)|The Member of the Wedding]]'' || Berenice Sadie Brown ||
|-
|1957 || ''[[Carib Gold]]'' ||Mom ||
|-
|1958 || ''[[The Heart Is a Rebel]]'' ||Gladys ||
|-
|1959 || ''[[The Sound and the Fury (1959 film)|The Sound and the Fury]]'' || Dilsey ||Last film role 
|}

===Short subjects===
* ''[[Rufus Jones for President]]'' (1933) as Mother of Rufus Jones
* ''[[Bubbling Over (1934 film)|Bubbling Over]]'' (1934) as Ethel Peabody
* ''Let My People Live'' (1939)

===Television===
* First African American, male or female, to star in own TV show, ''[[The Ethel Waters Show]]'', which was broadcast on NBC on June 14, 1939.
* Starred in title role of ''[[Beulah (radio and TV series)|Beulah]]'' on ABC-TV from 1950 to 1951.
* TV guest appearances from 1950 to 1952 on ''[[The Jackie Gleason Show]]'', ''[[Texaco Star Theater]]'', ''[[This Is Show Business]]'', ''[[What's My Line?]]'', and ''[[The Chesterfield Supper Club]]''<ref name="bogle">{{cite book |last1=Bogle |first1=Donald |title=Heat wave: The Life and Career of Ethel Waters |url=https://archive.org/details/heatwavelifecare2011bogl |url-access=registration |date=2011 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0062041722 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/heatwavelifecare2011bogl/page/466 466]–467 |edition=1st}}</ref>
* ''[[Person to Person]]'' (1954)<ref name="bogle" />
* ''[[Whirlybirds]]'', episode "The Big Lie" (1959)
* ''[[Route 66 (TV series)|Route 66]]'', episode "Good Night, Sweet Blues" (1961)
* ''[[The Hollywood Palace]]'', hosted by [[The Supremes|Diana Ross and the Supremes]] (1969)
* ''[[Daniel Boone (1964 TV series)|Daniel Boone]]'', episode "Mamma Cooper" (1970)

==Stage appearances==
* ''Hello 1919!'' (1919)
* ''Jump Steady'' (1922)
* ''[[Plantation Days]]'' (1923 re-run of 1922 production)<ref name=petersen/>
* ''Plantation Revue'' (1925)
* ''Black Bottom'' (1926)
* ''Miss Calico'' (1926–27)
* ''Paris Bound'' (1927)
* ''Africana'' (1927)
* ''The Ethel Waters Broadway Revue'' (1928)
* [[African-American musical theater#Lew Leslie's Blackbirds|Lew Leslie's ''Blackbirds'']] (1930)
* ''Rhapsody in Black'' (1931)
* ''Broadway to Harlem'' (1932)
* ''[[As Thousands Cheer]]'' (1933–34)
* ''At Home Abroad'' (1935–36)
* ''[[Mamba's Daughters]]'' (1939; 1940)
* ''Cabin in the Sky'' (1940–41)
* ''Laugh Time'' (1943)
* ''Blue Holiday'' (1945)
* ''The Member of the Wedding'' (1950–51; 1964; 1970)
* ''At Home with Ethel Waters'' (1953)
* ''The Voice of Strangers'' (1956)

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=Barnet|first=Andrea|title=All-Night Party: The Women of Bohemian Greenwich Village and Harlem, 1913–1930|location=Chapel Hill, North Carolina|publisher=Algonquin Books|year=2004|isbn=1-56512-381-6|url=https://archive.org/details/allnightpartywom00barn}}
* {{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Mayme Hatcher|author2=Miller, Karen E. Quinones |title=Harlem Godfather: The Rap on My Husband, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson|location=New York|publisher= Oshun Publishing Company|year=2008|isbn=978-0-9676028-3-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Southern|first=Eileen|title=The Music of Black Americans: A History|location=New York|publisher=W. W. Norton |year=1997|isbn=0-393-97141-4}}
* {{cite book|last=Knaack|first=Twila|title=Ethel Waters, I Touched a Sparrow |publisher=W Publishing Group |year=1978|isbn=978-0849900846}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll126 Ethel Waters Papers Digital Collection] from the [[Harry Ransom Center]]
* [http://www.redhotjazz.com/waters.html Ethel Waters discography] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303205237/http://www.redhotjazz.com/waters.html |date=March 3, 2009 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110206085216/http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/ethel-waters-blues-broadway Ethel Waters] at the African American Registry
* {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p7780}}
* [https://syncopatedtimes.com/ethel-waters-1896-1977/ Ethel Waters 1896–1977] at Red Hot Jazz Archive
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/104683 Ethel Waters recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
* {{Find a Grave}}
* {{IBDB name}}

{{Ethel Waters|state=collapsed}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waters, Ethel}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1977 deaths]]
[[Category:Musicians from Philadelphia]]
[[Category:People from Chester, Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Singers from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Jazz musicians from Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American actresses]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women singers]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American women singers]]
[[Category:American women jazz singers]]
[[Category:American film actresses]]
[[Category:American gospel singers]]
[[Category:American jazz singers]]
[[Category:American stage actresses]]
[[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]]
[[Category:Classic female blues singers]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in California]]
[[Category:Deaths from uterine cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:Jubilee Records artists]]
[[Category:American torch singers]]
[[Category:American vaudeville performers]]
[[Category:Biograph Records artists]]
[[Category:Mercury Records artists]]
[[Category:Paramount Records artists]]
[[Category:RCA Victor artists]]
[[Category:Vocalion Records artists]]
[[Category:African-American Catholics]]