January 25, 1896 - November 1, 1927

• Florence Mills (born Florence Winfrey) was one of the greatest entertainers and singing, dancing jazz performers the world has ever seen.

• She was one of the all-time greatest stars of the black theatre, the first black international female superstar of the Twentieth century and a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance

• Florence Mills was steeped in the traditions of  African-based black music and black dance that gave the world the Spirituals ('sorrow songs'), the Blues, Ragtime, Jazz and the basis of much of today's popular culture

• She was also a truly lovable, charitable, socially and intellectually aware woman, who spoke out for the rights of her fellow African Americans.

• Florence Mills is largely forgotten and neglected today, mainly because the primitive recording techniques of the early twentieth century couldn't capture her remarkable voice, and she was never filmed, so no record of her performance remains.

• The purpose of this site is to help reclaim for her the status and respect her remarkable talents and heroic personality warrant, in the eyes of the world and of her fellow African-Americans, to whom she was so important in the 1920s.

•  Check the links below to learn about Florence's true greatness, or  read The Book !

While Duke Ellington's Black Beauty has been the composition that has done most to keep Florence Mills' memory alive, Constant Lambert's hauntingly beautiful lament for her death has also played an important role.  The most recent version has been by pianist Mark Bebbington. Here is his

Elegiac Blues

played by Mark Bebbington on SOMM CD 062
See details here 

T

                                                                                           
                              Florence Mills: Month by Month

                                                       ^April          
   
    1903    Guest appearance as child star in Sons of Ham at Washington DC
   1911   Plays Harlem's Lincoln Theatre as member of the Mills Sisters
    1919    With Panama Trio at Empress Theatre, Omaha Nebraska
    1922    Shares bill in charity appearance at Belasco Theatre with Nora Bayes, 
                Ruth Draper, Paul Whiteman, Basil Rathbone, Frank Crumit & other big names
    1923    Sails for London & first international appearance aboard Cunard liner Albania
    1925    Finishes long Philadelphia run of Dixie to Broadway
    1926    Opens 6-week run in Blackbirds of 1926 at Alhambra Theatre, Harlem
    1927    Plays 250th performance of Blackbirds at London Pavilion

          

This site is © copyright property of  Bill Egan. Content created by me can be used subject to appropriate acknowledgement including URL of this site. To contact me or make suggestions (hopefully polite) e-mail me at: (replacing  [AT] with @  )
Bill [AT] FlorenceMills.com
For information on Florence Mills: Info [AT] FlorenceMills.com
Problems accessing content, or broken links etc: Webmaster [AT] FlorenceMills.com