RUTH BROWN SIGNED 3x5 CARD

Description

Offered here is a 4x6 card signed by the late Ruth Brown.
NOTE: The image was taken with a cell phone camera.  Any shadowing seen is not evident on this piece.
I am selling my collection of autographs that I have purchased several years ago from an array of sources – from eBay sellers, from dealers with professional credentials, and from the signers themselves via the mail.  Some came with COA’s; most did not.  When I obtained these signatures, I believed them to be genuine and I believed that they were genuine when I posted them on Ebay.
I have received opinions from others, including PSA/DNA whose opinion I sought, indicating that some of the signatures that I have posted were not likely to be genuine.  I have pulled those questionable signatures, and will not post them for sale again in the future.  It is not my intention to sell autographs that are not authentic, and I will continue do my best to try to ensure that the signatures that I am offering are genuine.  As indicated below, all signatures that I sell come with a money-back guarantee if they are judged to be of doubtful authenticity.
If the signature or signatures is/are determined to be inauthentic by a well-recognized autograph expert, this item may be returned for a full refund.
For those who'd prefer a different form of shipping, please contact me so that we can discuss what your shipping charges might be.
NOTE TO INTERNATIONAL BUYERS:
As of January 1, 2021, eBay collects a VAT (Value Added Tax) for the Customs bureau of that country.  Some countries charge an exorbitant 20% VAT.  Some countries make distinctions for historical documents such as autographs, and charge a more reasonable 5% VAT.  PLEASE CHECK WITH CUSTOMS IN THE COUNTRY YOU RESIDE IN REGARDING A VAT AND WHAT THAT TAX WILL BE FOR THE ITEM YOU WISH TO PURCHASE FROM ANY SELLER.
Short Bio:
Born Ruth Alston Weston in Portsmouth, Virginia, she attended I. C. Norcom High School, a historically black high school. Brown’s father was a dockhand who directed the local church choir, but the young Ruth showed more of an interest in singing at USO shows and nightclubs. She was inspired by Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. In 1945, Brown ran away from her home in Portsmouth along with trumpeter, Jimmy Brown, whom she soon married, to sing in bars and clubs.
Blanche Calloway, Cab Calloway’s sister, also a bandleader, arranged a gig for Brown at a Washington, D.C. nightclub called Crystal Caverns and soon became her manager. Willis Conover, a Voice of America disc jockey, caught her act and recommended her to Atlantic Records bosses, Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson.
Brown was unable to audition as planned because of a serious car accident that resulted in a nine-month hospital stay. In 1948, Ertegün and Abramson drove to Washington, D.C., from New York City to hear her sing in the club. Although her repertoire was mostly popular ballads, Ertegün convinced her to switch to rhythm and blues. His productions for her retained her “pop” style, with clean, fresh arrangements, and the spot on the beat with little of the usual blues singer’s embroidery.
In her first audition, in 1949, she sang “So Long,” which ended up becoming a hit. This was followed by “Teardrops from My Eyes” in 1950. Written by Rudy Toombs, it was the first upbeat major hit for Ruth Brown, establishing her as an important figure in R&B. Recorded for Atlantic Records in New York City in September 1950, and released in October, it was on Billboard’s List of number-one R&B hits (United States) for 11 weeks. The huge hit earned her the nickname “Miss Rhythm” and within a few months, Ruth Brown became the acknowledged queen of R&B.
She followed up this hit with “I’ll Wait for You” (1951), “I Know” (1951), “5-10-15 Hours” (1953), “(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean” (1953), “Oh What a Dream” (1954), “Mambo Baby” (1954), and “Don’t Deceive Me.” (1960) She also became known as “Little Miss Rhythm” and “the girl with the teardrop in her voice.” In all, she was on the R&B charts for 149 weeks, from 1949 to 1955, with sixteen top-ten blues records including five number one records. Brown became Atlantic’s most popular artist, earning for Atlantic records the proper name of “The House that Ruth Built.”
During the 1960s, Brown faded from public view to becoming a housewife and mother, and only returned to music in 1975 at the urging of Redd Foxx, followed by a series of comedic acting gigs, including a role in the sitcom
Hello, Larry
and the John Waters film
Hairspray
as local DJ Motormouth Maybelle, as well as Broadway appearances in
Amen Corner
and
Black and Blue
, which earned her a Tony Award as “Best Female Star of a Musical” for her performance and a Grammy award as Best Female Jazz Artist for her album
Blues on Broadway
, featuring hits from the show.
Brown’s fight for musicians’ rights and royalties in 1987 led to the founding of the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. She was inducted as a Pioneer Award recipient in its first year, 1989. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as “The Queen Mother of the Blues”.
She has become an iconic symbol to many black women for later generations, where she is also a favorite artist and inspiration for later blues artists such as Bonnie Raitt. Brown recorded and sang along with fellow rhythm and blues performer Charles Brown, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and toured with Raitt on Raitt’s tour in the late 1990s, “Road Tested”. Her 1995 autobiography,
Miss Rhythm
, won the Gleason Award for music journalism. She was nominated for another Grammy in the Traditional Blues category for her 1997 album
R+B=Ruth Brown
.