Following a failed marriage that wasn’t consummated at the age of 14 and a move to LA in her late teens, Bryant first performed in public in the late 1940s. She soon began recording for Okeh Records, and her first recording, “Drunk with Love”, was immediately banned on radio as too suggestive for airplay. “Love for Sale” (see below) was also banned.
Named one of the most beautiful black women in the world, Bryant regularly appeared in Jet. She earned $3,500 per gig (about $31,200.00 by today’s standards), making approximately $250,000 ($2.23M) annually on the nightclub scene in the early 1950s. She was the ultimate showstopper with her stunning beauty, hourglass figure and provocative outfits. Her backless, cleavage-revealing mermaid dresses were so tight that she had to be carried off-stage. In addition, Bryant supposedly twisted so much that she lost four pounds per performance.
It wasn’t until she was set to share the stage with Josephine Baker at an Easter benefit concert that she developed her signature. Not wanting to be upstaged, Bryant doused her hair with silver radiator paint, draped a floor length silver mink coat over a skintight silver gown, painted her nails silver and was met with “wild applause” from the audience. She had to wash the paint out with paint thinner but chose to keep her hair tinted silver, which ultimately badly damaged it.
While she was the first black performer to play the Aladdin Room at the Algiers Hotel in Miami, she was not allowed to do a photo shoot interacting with guests anywhere except for the nightclub and was also not even allowed to stay at the hotel. The Ku Klux Klan also burned her in effigy during the performance. After enduring drug and alcohol addiction, in addition to owing the IRS $60,000, Bryant was torn between stardom and her religious faith. By 1955, she had quit show business and entered Oakwood University, a historically black university owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Huntsville, Alabama.
Bryant became an evangelist and briefly returned to the stage with foreign touring opera companies and singing on cruise ships and even clubs again (but without the silver hair and tight dresses) in the 1960s. Music historian Jim Byers tracked Bryant down in 2000 and began working on Joyce Bryant: The Lost Diva, a documentary based on the singer; however, not much is known about its release or Bryant’s later life.
JOYCE BRYANT — “LOVE FOR SALE”
I LOVE these! thank you for providing good ish among the gossip fodder
This was a very good read! Ya’ll should do this more, more often, very good.
Never heard of her before now. She’s a lovely singer.
I miss these spotlights too. Please! Please! Give us one a week. Black History should be all year.
yep. We are bringing them back again. So be on the lookout.
For extra content might I suggest the Great African Kings and queens series in cooperation with Budweiser (with permission). the illustations and historical factual content would be most enlightening for your core audience.
Please feature Fela Kuti and the fela kuti queens! This feature is awesome! Never heard of her before!
We actually did a feature on Fela Kuti a couple years ago. Here is the link: http://concreteloop.com/2008/06/black-history-spotlight-fela-kuti
Thanks so much for posting this J. I never heard of her before & enjoyed it very much
always an interesting read… would love to see this documentary
I get so inspired by these history spotlights ; Thank you ConcreteLoop
This was indeed a good read. I had never heard of her…
I love seeing classic beauties thank you for the history she has a wonderful voice!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wow! From Oakland and have never heard about Ms. Bryant. I love these posts CL! Makes me proud and interested in learning more about our ‘forgotten’ legends. Good Work!
AGreed!
I’m from oakland as well an I never heard of her either…makes me want to look more into Oakland’s history
Loves it…..
I love these posts.. good job CL.
Excellent read. Wow, never ever heard of her. Chick could sing plus was gorgeous. I hope that they release the documentary b/c I’d love 2 see it.
Oh, I love this! I’m looking forward to seeing this often. No other blogs that I know of does this! LOVE IT! What a beautiful thing!
I could only imagine the damage to her hair…in addition loosing 4lbs per show means she was a Beyonce in her prime…Beautiful at that…NYCE CL!..I must say performers in those times endured a lot…can you imagine not being able to take or interact with the patrons you just performed for..no wonder the abuse of drugs and alcohol was so high amonst the entertainers of this era…A lot OD’d
FCUK a beyonce JOYCE BRYANT WAS/IS BETTER THAN BEYONCE.
SHE WAS COMPARED TO MARILYN MONROE AND EVERYBODY AND THERE MAMA KNOWS BEYONCE AIN’T NOWHERE NEAR THAT STATUS FALL BACK
Wow @Deuces, calm down! I agree with ThanksCL though, in comparing the status and talent, although they are from different social time periods. Ms. Bryant though, without a doubt, had to overcome a lot more to earn her status.
They should turn her story into a biopic…I would love to see her story on the big screen.
Wow!!!! Amazing.
I had to do a doubletake. Beyonce took exact same poses as Ms. Bryant when she was promoting B-Day. Her inner ego should of been called Joyce Bryant, not Sasha Firece. Now we know Tina Turner wasnt the only influnences on Bey’s career.
Great post, please do more like this.
If there is ever going to be a movie made about her…Keri Hilson hands down should play her.
Beautiful! she sounds a little like Lena Horne!
FANTASIA SHOULD PLAY HER IN A BIO PIC!
TASIA GOTTA GET A PERSONAL TRAINER FIRST. LOL..
Thanks, CL, I love learning something new!
see this is what i missed about this blog. Please don’t ever lose this feature again. I can go to ANY blog and find out what outfit Rihanna wore at Mr Chow, but this is what sets you guys apart, the balance, and no one has the balance between old and new anymore… EDUCATE THE CHILDREN FOR GOD SAKES… LOL
This is freaking AWESOME. It should be done every week, and summed up once month to make a greater impact. This is OUR history!!! They should never be forgottened
BY POSTING THIS, CONCRETELOOP MOVED UP TO THE TOP OF MY LIST
LOL, Agreed!
UGH!! SHE IS POURING HER GUTS OUT!! GOD REALLY BLESSED US WITH BORN TALENT
I really missed the history spots!! really enjoyed this one, she had a beautiful voice – i agree with one of the previous posts, it’s nice to have something informative to read about other than the usual nonsense
Keep’em coming CL!!
J. Dakar this why I love the fact that you are on CL!…You bring so much more to this site. This was a great spot light and I had never heard of her until now. She has a great voice.
I really enjoyed this and learned about an amazing person I had never heard of. Keep it up!
Before I saw the picture I was going to ask why CL was doing a history spotlight on Joy Bryant .. thinking they used Joyce as her full name.
I’ve never heard of her before .. very interesting. I can’t even imagine what it must’ve been like performing infront of people like the Ku Klux Klan .. how awful.
Keep it up though CL!
What a wonderful post CL! Keep ‘em coming!
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she’s one of those legends that has been popularly over-looked and i’m glad that someone zoomed in on her and her contributions to the world of an entertainer…
Love it love it love it – I think miss Janelle Monae has been dablin in her book a bit.
Keep it up CL
Wow! I really enjoyed this post; it was very entertaining.
I used to be obsessed with Eartha Kitt, but not I’m getting into Joyce Bryant. I’m loving her strong classical show-tune voice.
———
Please don’t bring up Beyonce. Beyonce has channeled everyone from Betty Paige, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Ru Paul, Kylie Mynogue, Britney Spears,Donna Summer, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira, Mariah Carey, Bob Fosse’s work, and many movie roles (Basic Instinct, Robert Palmer girl’s)…should we add Joyce/Marilyn Monroe to the list!
There’s nothing new under the sun…get a grip. It’s really not that serious.
1ClassyBlackWoman – I’ve always wondered what was the source of Janelle Monae’s inspiration. Her styling is very Coco Before Chanel, but some of her poses are similar to this lady. Vocally…hmm…I wonder.
I love these spotlights!!! So glad that they are back. I am an alumnus of Oakwood University so to know that Joyce Bryant went there was really cool. Thanks so much for keeping us educated about our pioneers!
Thanks for this feature!!I’ve never heard of Ms. Bryant.PLEASE CONTINUE!!
Love love love..when you all do these features! Great read and thanks for shining the light on another musical beauty!
Might i suggest “Al Hibbler” I’m sure a LOT of ppl would be fascinated with his story and the songs he’s associated with as so was I..
Good stuff CL!.:)
She was beautiful and had a nice voice!!! Thanks for bringing back the Black History Spotlight!!!!
her voice is interesting to listen to..this brief was very well written that i may add. i guess she got enough of the spot light and wanted a more peaceful chilled life…where is she now?
She has a very beautiful voice. I’ve never heard of her before but I’m happy that I know about her now.
OMG Here’s a rare footage of Joyce!
It’s the second video below:
http://schuon25-xii.blogspot.com/2009/06/joyce-bryant.html
Good info. Love stuff like this….please give us more!
The history spotlights are the reason that I started visiting this site in the first place. I really enjoyed this one.
This might be superficial, but thank you so much for this my hair is actually silver and I have a young face. I get stared at a lot. I also get a lot of unsolicited comments.. Most of the times people are flattering, but sometimes the stares are exhausting. This validates my decision to stop coloring. I’m going to search for her music.
I thought Billie Holiday did Love For Sale.
This is one of the reasons CL stands out amidst the trash. Never heard of this woman before and now I’ve learned something new. What are the chances I would have learned about her if not for this posting? PLEAAASSSEEE continue! Kudos!
I loved this! I just found this site and I’m really glad I did. I think I’ll come again.
THANKS J DAKAR.
Love these posts. Ms. Byrant has an amazing voice and she was indeed a beauty!!
she can sang!!!!!!!!!! thanks for bringing this back!
Wow she sounds iconic!
i love the f*ck outta this post. YES.
HOW DO WE KNOW THAT MARILYN MONROE WASN’T THE WHITE VERSION OF JOYCE BRYANT??? MANY WHITE ARTISTS (AKA ELVIS PRESLEY) STOLE MUSIC AND ARTISTRY FROM BLACK PERFORMERS. LET’S MAKE SURE WE ARE GIVING VREIDT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.
Interesting. Well, Marilyn went from Brunette to blonde…and Joyce brown to silver…I wonder if her appeal was borrowed by Marilyn.
THANK YOU for bring back this feature!!! It’s one of the reasons I first started visiting this site.
this woman looks gross.
Great history lesson guys! I’ve never heard of this woman before, interesting story. I’d pay to see video of her and Josephine Baker on the same stage!
Awesome post, Jeff. Love Ms. Bryant and learned some new things about her today.
Thanks for this! I missed this section of this site. I really look forward to it. Sick of dark Hollywood.
Post much appreciated!
That was refreshing great post! BLACK POWER