Once upon a time, in the 1950s, a young woman was singing in nightclubs and performing on both coasts. She shares the stage with the likes of Maya Angelou, and Tom and Dick Smothers. One day, she was invited to a little jam session, a rehearsal of sorts, to lay down a few tracks in an old garage. She was basically cajoled into doing it, and it was fun. Then, but she shrugged her shoulders, walked away, and thought nothing more about it.
Eventually, this extraordinarily talented young woman was offered a support gig on tour with the legendary Cab Calloway, which took her across the United States and all over Europe. Upon her return, she was told that the little song she had sung in a California garage is now number 32 in Boston, and even climbing the UK charts. She never signed anything. She never received a penny. A fairy godmother was nowhere in sight…but a handsome Prince was just around the corner.
That song, Love Letters, would become a number one hit and the signature piece that drove the career of Ketty Lester. And that song was nominated for a Grammy. It was powerful enough to stand alongside recordings by industry luminaries of the time. Yes, Ketty Lester was nominated for a Grammy award and her fellow nominees were Peggy Lee and Ella Fitzgerald. Only Ketty didn’t discover this until 60 years later. 60 years.
Ketty Lester’s story reads like a fairy tale. This granddaughter of a slave had a chance to escape the Arkansas fields in which she worked, by winning a music scholarship to Philander Smith College in Little Rock Arkansas. However, putting family first, which would become a running theme in her life, won out, and Ketty ended up accompanying her brother and younger sister to San Francisco where she enrolled in Nursing School. Once there, her role changed from student to caretaker when her younger sister fell pregnant, and they were forced to leave their brother’s home and struggle to make it on their own.
Out of necessity, Ketty did a bit of singing and joined theatre groups and performance troops and soon found herself performing at the one and only Purple Onion, and later, was one of the first to open in its second location in Los Angeles. She shared the stage with women who would go on to break barriers and become “firsts” in their field like Phyllis Diller and the aforementioned Maya Angelou. But Ketty, too, was a woman of firsts. In her fairy tale life, the nemesis was not a wicked witch, it was the spectra of racism and unfulfilled love. The poison apple didn’t send her into deep slumber, just the opposite. It made her struggle on, through heartache and hardship, and out of necessity, she took many other roads to feed her family and fill the hole left in her broken heart. Love Letters would prove to be not just a song, but the true story of Ketty’s life, about a road not taken because of the prejudices of the day, but it would lead to more roads still, paved with triumphs and heartache alike.
Today’s volatile social and political climate has produced an awareness of injustices that have been done, and thus, shine the light on unsung heroes of the past. Sadly, many of them are gone and only a sparse narrative remains, but Ketty Lester is still with us. She is still vibrant, still engaging, still dynamic, and she is ready to share her story of how a woman of color, granddaughter of a slave and sharecropper, became a chart-topping RnB artist, the first woman of color to appear in a daytime soap opera, and later win a role on one of the most popular primetime series in the ‘70s, Little House on The Prairie. Ketty was a pioneer in real life, not only for women of color, but all women. Her love and determination, her faith and altruism, brought her to the top. Her strength kept her going, no matter how much she was exploited and was ultimately forgotten. Her voice is still strong, and she is here to tell her story. Ketty Lester is a true hero, and an example of how against all odds, a woman can triumph through racial prejudice, sexism, and misogyny and live to tell her story to a new generation, so that they may see that it never, ever happens again.
Alan Mercer: It’s such a thrill to get to talk with you today, Miss Lester.
Ketty Lester: Thank you so much for wanting to talk to me.
AM: You are the most beautiful and glamorous star.
KL: Oh, my goodness! Now, you’re going to get me embarrassed. (Laughter)
AM: I find it fascinating that a woman with your beauty and talent never set out to be in show business. How did you do it?
KL: That was by accident. It came about from one of those problems you sometimes have in life, and you have to go to work. Frankly put: I couldn’t find no other job, but I have always been a singer, mainly as a soloist in church and in school choir. Nevertheless, the owner of the Purple Onion heard about me and he gave me his card. He wanted me to sing at his nightclub. It was the furthest job I had in mind, but when I couldn’t get a regular day job anywhere else, I called him and asked if the opportunity was still open, and it was, so I took it.
AM: I know from reading your book that you always put your family first. That isn’t always the case with many people.
KL: That’s the most important thing in my life. There were so many of us in the country and we played together with my uncles’ children. It was just my family. There were two churches in Hempstead County where our farm was. There was the Baptist church and that’s where my Aunt Seemie and her family went and then there was St. Paul which is where my father and our family went to. Once a month those two churches got together and had “food on the ground”. (Laughter) Everybody would bring something to eat and after the morning service we really enjoyed it. That was such a nice moment for us children. When I think of why family is so important to me, my memory goes back to those after-church gatherings where we had “food on the ground” and played together.
AM: Most people who enter show business take it very seriously. I get the impression that you never found show business to be that important.
KL: Show business was work and I always did my work the best I could. It wasn’t a burning ambition, it was just what I was good at and that’s all. When the gig was over, I always went home to my sisters and brothers, who I was living with. I didn’t go to show business parties or play the Hollywood scene. I went home. My family was very important to me and I put them first. They’re all gone now, except me.
AM: What is it like being the last one?
KL: It’s a lonely feeling sometimes. I just listened to the very last record I made, which is a religious record, and I was crying. Those old gospel songs are parts of the rock of my foundation; they’re where I come from. They’re what I have left and hearing them made me realize that they’re just about all I have left.
I’m very religious and with the problems we are having today, there is a lot to pray for. I’m an old woman now and I have all the time to do it. I am praying for the people in Ukraine and I’m praying for this country. I’m actually praying for all countries and for all people. We’ve got to love one another. We have to be forgiving and loving and that’s the most important thing. I better shut up because I am getting emotional.
AM: I bet you’re enjoying your music being re-released and being enjoyed by new generations.
KL: Yes, it is very rewarding. It’s also fun. I’m very proud that the work I did so many years ago is worthy of being reissued and I hope another generation of people may enjoy the songs. I can’t sing as good as I used to, but for the first time in 25 years or more I sang last month in front of a live audience, and they did seem to enjoy it. It was just a couple of songs. Since then, I’ve been asked if I might do a full concert next. I’d like to try it, but all we have to do is pray to God that His will be done and not my will if He sees fit for me to sing again.
AM: I believe you sang at the Hollywood Heritage Museum tribute to you.
KL: That’s right. My manager, David, set that up and it was the most beautiful thing. (Emotional voice) I hadn’t been before an audience since 1969. So, to try and sing before an audience was just a joy. It meant so much to me and God helped me to make it through and I was just so proud.
AM: Well, you certainly looked beautiful. I saw a picture of you taken on that day.
KL: (surprised) You did!?! (Big Laughter) Oh my goodness!
AM: You started your career at the same time as other superstars like Phyllis Diller, Maya Angelou and the Smothers Brothers.
KL: Maya was my very close friend. Phyllis Diller started her show business career the very same night I started mine. We didn’t have very many women comics back in those days. I believe Phyllis was among the first. We had a good time.
AM: You know, from reading your book, I got the idea you were kind of sassy now and then.
KL: (Big broad laughter) Yes, I have been kind of sassy. First one to notice it was my mother who called it out. See, I was being sassy to my father. She said I inherited that sassiness from him!
AM: Can you tell me about working with Cab Calloway?
KL: That was an interesting part of my life. That’s when my life changed. It was wonderful working with Cab. He had pictures of me and my friends with him. One of the showgirls, who was my friend, had pictures taken of us to go in Cab’s tour program. He put ‘em right in there! That was right about the time my girlfriend invited me to a bar in New York City to celebrate our return from Cab’s tour and, consequently, when and where I also met the love of my life, Carlo Bilotti.
AM: I read about Carlo in your book, and I guess it wasn’t the right time for this relationship in our society.
KL: I’m going to tell you something, Alan: I was a girl from Arkansas coming up in the 1940’s and 50’s. My grandfather was a slave, so meeting a man that wasn’t of my own race was a very difficult thing for me. It was hard to accept for a long time. Carlo was always very nice to me. He said he would protect me and keep me safe, and that’s what he did. I have a lot to be grateful for.
AM: I’m so glad you got to experience that type of love in your life.
KL: I want to say one thing. I wish the world could experience what I have been able to experience. We need to love one another and accept one another, not by the color of our skin, but for who we are and how we treat one another. We need to love one another. God is love and if we love one another, as God wants us to then the world would be a better place.
AM: I believe you’re right. You’re very well known for the song, ‘Love Letters.’ Did you like the song when you recorded it?
KL: (Laughter) No, I didn’t know that song when I recorded it. I’ve come to love it, but in the beginning it wasn’t something I was familiar with until the day I first actually sang it. What you hear; what the world has heard all these years is a young girl being introduced to an old song for the first time. I loved what we did with it.
AM: In your book, you mentioned Dorothy Shay had been your manager at the start. Was she not around?
KL: No, she wasn’t around at that point. She was pushing her own career too. Her name isn’t as known now as it was then, but Dorothy Shay was a star and popular nightclub entertainer all on her own. She was a hillbilly singer, and she took me on as a protégé before I met Ed Cobb. Funny enough, Dorothy had already taken me to New York to audition for RCA Victor, but RCA said I didn’t have a “recording voice”! That didn’t bother me none and I always remembered Rosie’s warning after that.
When Ed Cobb came in and asked if I would make some recordings for him, I said, OK. He told me where to go and it was a little home-studio over a garage, not far from my house. Little did I know it was actually a professional studio in disguise operated by a fellow called Armin Steiner. He had some major session players booked to play when I got there, but I didn’t know them yet. I went in and asked Ed, Armin, and a young white pianist named Lincoln Mayorga what they wanted me to sing. They told me to sing what I already sang in the nightclub: ballads and standards. I did those and eventually sang every song I knew. After a few hours, I ran out of material, but they weren’t finished with me. Well, hell, I said, “I’m tired and I have to go now because I’ve got to rest before I got to work later tonight and sing – for pay!” Before I could say another word, Ed asked for just one more song before I left. I said, alright, but make it quick. I saw Lincoln had sheet music for something called “Love Letters” on the piano and I said, “Play that one. I’ll sing it.” That was the first time I ever heard “Love Letters”, but there was a problem – for me: Lincoln played it so straight. I said, “Honey, can’t you put a little heart and soul into it?” He didn’t know what that was. I told him, “Why, it’s gospel, man!” He didn’t know what that was either. Luckily, I had a Black bass player, Dick Brandt and a Black drummer, Earl Palmer, so when I started singing the song they were right with me. Lincoln quickly got with it and made his melody more gospel-sounding, and that’s how we came up with ‘Love Letters.’ What you hear really is my demo…a demo that became a hit record.
AM: Thank you for taking the time to talk with me today. People are excited to learn more about you these days.
KL: I’m a lucky woman, Alan. And I’m blessed you care.
