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I am Sarah Lois Vaughan. My big day was in 1998. I was born March 27, 1924, and I died April 3rd, 1990 at age 66. I was born in Newark, New Jersey. I began piano lessons at the age of seven, i sung in the Church Choir, and I played piano for rehearsals and services. I developed an early love for popular music on records and the radio. In 1961, me and Atkins adopted a daughter, Debra Lois. I have a street named after me in Newark, New Jersey. My big day is about my recording of "It's Magic."

I come from Newark, New jersey. I was the daughter of amateur musicians. I began studying piano and organ at age seven. I sang in the church choir. After I won an amateur contest at Harlem's famed Pollo Theater in 1942, I was hired as a singer and second pianist by the Earl Hines Orchestra.

I was a pianist and I was an American jazz singer. With my rich, controlled tone and vibrato, I could create astounding performances on jazz standards, often adding bop-oriented phrasing. Along with Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, I helped popularize the art of jazz singing, influencing generations of vocalists following me. At Mercury, I had my biggest chart success, with the top ten hits "Make Yourself Comfortable" and "Whatever Lola Wants." In 1959, my single "Broken Hearted Melody" reached number seven on the Billboard pop chart and I became an international success, becoming the biggest single of my career.

I loved to sing. The power, range, and flexibility of my voice made me, known as "Sassy" or "The Divine One". I also appeared in three movies in that period—Jazz Festival (1956), Disc Jockey (1951), and Basin Street Revue (1956). A contralto with a range of three octaves. I came to be regarded as one of the greatest of all jazz singers.

With my rich, controlled tone and vibrato, I could create astounding performances on jazz standards, often adding bop-oriented phrasing. Some singers that were influenced by me are Phoebe Snow, Anita Baker, Sade, and Rickie Lee Jones. I was discovered in 1942 when, on a friend's dare, I entered a jazz contest at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in New York City. Billy Eckstine, the influential member of the Hines band, was impressed by my performance. I joined the Hines band as a vocalist and pianist shortly thereafter.