American jazz singer, actress, and dancer Adelaide Hall had a fascinating life filled with a legendary career spanning several decades. Her personal life—especially her marriage relationships—has long piqued the interest of her devoted fan base.
We hope to illuminate Adelaide Hall’s spouses in this succinct examination, exploring her love affairs and the important connections that shaped her life in addition to her well-known profession. Come along as we explore the marriages and love tales that impacted this legendary artist’s incredible career.
Adelaide Hall Husband
Trinidad and Tobago-born British sailor Bertram Errol Hicks was married to Hall in 1924. He became her official business manager shortly after they were married and launched the brief “The Big Apple” club in Harlem, New York.
She requested her spouse to accompany her after deciding to accept the opportunity. Together, they set sail for Europe and started an experience that would forever alter their lives.
In Europe, the Chocolate Kiddies show was an enormous hit. The show’s music, dancing, and costumes captivated spectators in Europe, introducing them to black entertainment from New York.
With her performances of songs like “Creole Love Call” and “I Must Have That Man,” Adelaide Hall was one of the revue’s main attractions. Her voice and personality won over both fans and critics.
Many important European cities, including Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, London, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow, and more were visited during the tour’s several-month duration.
Adelaide Hall and Bertram Errol Hicks delighted in exploring various cultures and ways of living while touring Europe. They also forged several friendships and connections with famous people and artists throughout Europe.
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Adelaide Hall’s Early Life
Adelaide Hall was born to Elizabeth and Arthur William Hall in Brooklyn, New York, but she was raised in Harlem. Hall made her Broadway debut in the chorus line of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s hit musical Shuffle Along in 1921.
She later starred in several other black musical productions, such as Runnin’ Wild on Broadway in 1923, where she performed the hit song “Old-Fashioned Love” by James P. Johnson.
Duke Ellington composed music for the Chocolate Kiddies revue, which Hall toured Europe in 1925. Hall debuted in the Broadway musical My Magnolia in 1926, which had a brief run and a score by Luckey Roberts and Alex C. Rogers.
She then made an appearance in Tan Town Topics, which featured songs by Fats Waller. Following that, Hall starred in the American tour of Desires of 1927 (music composed by Andy Razaf and J. C. Johnson), which ran from October 1926 to September 1927.
Who was Adelaide Hall?
Adelaide Hall was born in 1901 to Elizabeth and William Hall in Brooklyn, New York, in the United States. William Hall taught piano at the Pratt Institute, where Adelaide and her sister Evelyn were students. On March 23, 1917, her father passed away.
After three years, on March 25, 1920, Evelyn passed away from influenza, leaving Adelaide to care for her mother and herself. In the Broadway chorus line of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake’s musical Shuffle Along, Hall made her stage debut in 1921. Shuffle Along launched Hall’s career as a massive success.
Hall traveled throughout Europe in 1925 with the Chocolate Kiddies show. Duke Ellington wrote several of the tunes for the production. Hall was brought on board to practice with the Chocolate Kiddies revue cast in New York before they sailed for Europe.
The original tour visited numerous important cities between May 17, 1925, starting in Hamburg, Germany, and December 17, 1925, ending in Paris, France. The purpose of the revue was to introduce Europeans to New York’s black entertainment scene.
The Three Eddies, Lottie Gee, Thaddeus Drayton, Rufus Greenlee, Babe Goins, Bobbie, Charles Davis, and Sam Wooding and his Orchestra were among the performers. Sam Wooding and his Orchestra took the Chocolate Kiddies revue on the road for a number of years after the first tour ended.
Following several years of touring the US and Europe, Hall traveled to the UK in 1938 to play the lead in a musical adaptation of Edgar Wallace’s The Sun Never Sets at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She settled in Britain and became one of the most well-liked singers and performers of the era because she was so successful and well-liked by the country’s fans. From 1938 till her death in 1938, Hall resided in London.
Fats Waller provided organ accompaniment for Hall as she recorded “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” and “That Old Feeling” at London’s Abbey Road Studios on August 28, 1938. HMV Records published the records. She made her transatlantic radio broadcast debut in the live transmission of Broadcast To America alongside Waller on September 10, 1938, in London’s St George’s Hall.
Adelaide Hall Death
At the age of 92, Adelaide Hall passed away in London’s Charing Cross Hospital early on November 7, 1993, from natural causes (old age). As per her request, she was buried next to her mother in the Brooklyn Cemetery of the Evergreens after her funeral service at the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Garden City, New York) was held.
Many celebrities attended her memorial ceremony at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden (often referred to as the “actors’ church”) in London, including Elaine Paige, Elisabeth Welch, Lon Satton, and Elaine Delmar. TV host and broadcaster Michael Parkinson, who was among the attendees, said in his eulogy that “Adelaide lived to be ninety-two and never grew old.”
