Role

:

Performer

Country

:

United States of America

Birth

:

November 23, 1897 in David City, NE

Death

:

September 24, 1978 in Colorado Springs, CO

 

Ruth Etting was an American singer and actress who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s. She was born on November 23, 1896, in David City, Nebraska, to Alfred and Winifred Etting. Her father was a banker, and her mother was a schoolteacher. Ruth had two siblings, a brother named David and a sister named Marjorie. Ruth showed an early interest in music and began taking piano lessons at the age of five. She also sang in her church choir and performed in local talent shows. When she was 16, her family moved to Chicago, where she continued her music studies and began performing in nightclubs and vaudeville theaters. In 1920, Ruth met Moe Snyder, a former boxer who became her manager and later her husband. Snyder helped Ruth land a job at the Marigold Gardens nightclub in Chicago, where she quickly became a popular performer. She also began recording for Columbia Records and had her first hit song in 1926 with "Love Me or Leave Me." Ruth's success at the Marigold Gardens led to a contract with the Ziegfeld Follies, a popular Broadway revue. She made her debut in the Follies in 1927 and became a star attraction. She also appeared in several Hollywood films, including "Roman Scandals" (1933) and "Gift of Gab" (1934). Ruth's signature song was "Ten Cents a Dance," which she first recorded in 1930. The song, written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, became a hit and was later featured in the film "Love Me or Leave Me" (1955), a biopic about Ruth's life. Despite her success, Ruth's personal life was tumultuous. Her marriage to Moe Snyder was marked by domestic violence, and she eventually divorced him in 1937. She later married her pianist, Myrl Alderman, but the marriage was also troubled and ended in divorce in 1942. Ruth's career declined in the 1940s, and she retired from performing in 1950. She made a brief comeback in the 1960s, performing in nightclubs and on television. She also wrote an autobiography, "My Life Story," which was published in 1955. Ruth Etting received several awards and honors during her career. In 1978, she was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. She was also posthumously inducted into the Nebraska Music Hall of Fame in 1996. Ruth Etting died on September 24, 1978, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the age of 81. She is remembered as one of the most popular and influential singers of the 1920s and 1930s, and her recordings continue to be admired by fans of classic jazz and pop music.

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