Laura Washington

American jazz vocalist from Birmingham, Alabama, who sang and recorded with the orchestra of Erskine Hawkins in the 1940s. Washington sang in small clubs and churches in Birmingham for eight years before making her New York debut with Hawkins in 1946. She married saxophonist Julian Dash in 1948. In 1952, Washington returned to Birmingham, and focused on raising her children until the early 1980s when returned to singing. Born: 1926 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA Died: 30 August 1990 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA