Linda Hopkins (December 14, 1924 – April 10, 2017) was a Tony-winning American actress and blues and gospel singer. She recorded classic, traditional, and urban blues, and performed R&B and soul, jazz, and show tunes.
Born Melinda Helen Matthews in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, the second child of the Reverend Fred Matthews, Sr. and Hazel Smith, Hopkins grew up in the section of New Orleans known by the locals as "Zion City". She went to school in "Gert Town" which bordered the Xavier University of Louisiana.
Known as "Lil Helen Matthews" as a child, she was discovered at the age of eleven by Mahalia Jackson when she persuaded Jackson to perform at a fundraiser at her home church, St. Mark's Baptist Church. Lil Helen opened the children's fundraising program with a rendition of Jackson's gospel hit, "God Shall Wipe Your Tears Away". Jackson was deeply moved by Lil Helen’s talent and dedication, and promptly dubbed her “The Kid,” a nickname that has stuck to Linda Hopkins (as she later became) ever since, even into her ninth decade.
Jackson arranged for the girl to join the Southern Harp Spiritual Singers, a group with which she would sing “first tenor” for eleven years, and with which she would make her first recordings (on four 78s) in 1947. But Helen Mathews was not to follow precisely in Mahalia Jackson’s footsteps. Whereas Jackson was committed exclusively to Gospel music, “the music of the Lord,” all her life, Linda Hopkins was drawn to the Blues, “the music of the Devil,” to an equal degree. She had first heard Bessie Smith in 1936 at the New Orleans Palace Theatre, and had realized that secular music could be just as compelling as Gospel; both came from deep in the human heart.
In 1951 Helen Matthews left New Orleans and headed for the West Coast, taking a solo gig at Slim Jenkins’s Night Club in the Oakland area. A thirteen-year-old jazz and Blues singer, “Little Esther” Phillips, made friends with her there and introduced her to bandleader Johnny Otis. It turned out that Little Esther was hoping for a star career with King Records and needed a substitute in Otis’s revue. Not only did Esther recommend her new friend for the position, she gave Helen Mathews her new stage name: Linda Hopkins. That year Linda made her first Blues recordings for Savoy Records in Los Angeles – four singles, including two hits, “Doggin’ Blues” and “Warning Blues” – with the Johnny Otis Orchestra, and two more in San Francisco with Fletcher Smith.
In 1952, Hopkins toured Hawaii and Japan for two years which included a stint with Louis Armstrong at The Brown Derby in Honolulu. She recorded for the Crystalette, Forecast, Federal and Atco labels and often appeared at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. Linda Hopkins worked with the comedy team Allen and Rossi in major nightclubs in the late ’50s, but an automobile accident forced her to give up performing for an entire year.
In 1960, Hopkins first toured Europe in the Broadway Express, the restaged production of Jazz Train. She recorded "Shake a Hand" with Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label, which is her sole hit single reaching #21 on the US Billboard R&B chart. She also recorded "I Found :Love" and "There's Nothing Like Love" with him on Brunswick in early 1962. She attended Stella Adler's Acting School in New York City.
During the 1970s, Hopkins performed in the Broadway musical, Purlie, and with Sammy Davis Jr. for nine months. In addition, she performed at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural ball. In 1972 she was awarded a Tony and Drama Desk Award for her performance in Inner City. She sang "Do You Believe" at the political event Star-Spangled Women for McGovern–Shriver, bringing 19,000 people to their feet.
Hopkins starred in Me and Bessie, a one-woman show paying homage to blues singer Bessie Smith, conceived and written by Hopkins and Will Holt. The world premiere was in Washington, D.C. in 1974. After a run in Los Angeles it transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway. The critically acclaimed show ran for thirteen months and 453 performances, and Hopkins was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience.
In 1985, Black and Blue, written by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli, premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Musical Paris. The musical revue opened on Broadway in 1989 and ran for 829 performances. Hopkins received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical. Wild Women Blues, conceived by Hopkins and produced by Mel Howard and created by Hopkins and William Lipscomb, premiered in Berlin in 1997. In 1998 Hopkins celebrated 50 years in show business.
In 2005, Motherin' The Blues: Linda Hopkins — The Continuing Legacy of The Blues Woman, was published. In October 2005, Hopkins received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
She maintained a busy career, often appearing at Sweetwater’s in Manhattan, until a stroke sidelined her at 82. The voice stayed strong. Hopkins died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 10, 2017 at the age of 92.
(Edited from Wikipedia & Masterworks broadway)