Underneath A Harlem Moon: the Harlem to Paris Years of Adelaide Hall

by
IAIN CAMERON WILLIAMS
with a foreword by Dame Cleo Laine

The first major biography of Adelaide Hall


Often seen as the most important and influential female star of Harlem’s Renaissance, Adelaide Hall dynamically pushed down the barriers that had previously prevented black entertainers from reaching mass recognition. Though she will always be associated with Harlem’s famous Cotton Club and her wordless vocals on some of Duke Ellington’s most famous tunes, it was the astounding media attention Adelaide Hall received on both sides of the Atlantic during her two year starring role in Lew Leslie’s Broadway revue “Blackbirds of 1928″ that turned her into what can only be termed the first modern-day international black female superstar.

With fame came controversy. Her Broadway performance incited a riot. The persecution she encountered from her racist neighbours after purchasing an exclusive estate in Larchmont, a predominantly white suburb in Westchester County, hit national headlines.

Iain Cameron-Williams takes the reader on a fascinating roller-coaster ride from the birth of Adelaide in Brooklyn and her humble childhood in Harlem, through her triumphs on Broadway to the glamour of Paris’ Moulin Rouge, appearances at the most sophisticated and celebrated nightclubs in the world and across two continents on a ground-breaking eighteen month RKO tour. By the end of 1932, Adelaide had performed to millions and in the process had become one of America’s wealthiest black women.

Adelaide’s celebrity status afforded her the privilege of befriending many stars from the world of showbusiness. The book includes many accounts of such friendships including her encounter with Rudolph Valentino, her close acquaintance with Maurice Chevalier, her stormy relationship with the Broadway impresario Lew Leslie, her meetings in Chicago with Al Capone, her amusing account of an evening she spent in the company of Gloria Swanson, her exciting visit to Douglas Fairbanks house “Pickfair” in Beverly Hills and accounts of all the famous black stars she knew from the Harlem Renaissance including Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Sam Wooding, Bojangles, Aida Ward, Florence Mills, Lottie Gee, Valaida Snow etc. The book also explains in depth the continual rivalry and hostility Adelaide received from Josephine Baker. For the first time ever in print the book dates exactly when, where and how Adelaide discovered the blind pianist Art Tatum and also explains Adelaide’s lifetime claim that it was she who helped name New York the “Big Apple.”

In 1935, Adelaide and her husband moved to Europe and set up home in Paris where her career continued to flourish. Here, she opened her own nightclub “La Grosse Pomme” and employed Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli’s Quintette du Hot Club de France as the resident in-house band. Not content with being dubbed the Parisian “Queen of Montmartre” Adelaide set her sights on conquering Britain. The book concludes with her mysterious disappearance in November 1938, which until now has never been publicly explained.

Iain Cameron-Williams
Underneath A Harlem Moon is Iain Cameron-Williams’ first biography, having previously worked as a musician, producer and composer. He released three records under various stage names and co-wrote the song ‘Give Me One More Chance’ which represented the United Kingdom in the 1990 International Song Festival. He was a close friend of Adelaide Hall from 1971 until her death in 1993. He live’s in London’s Notting Hill Gate.

Underneath A Harlem Moon by Iain Cameron-Williams is published by Continuum, 428pp, 75 illustrations, Hardback price ?20.00. ISBN 0826458939. Available from all good bookshops.