Born in Oakland but raised in San Francisco, JOYCE BRYANT was the oldest of eight children. Her father was a railroad chef, while her mother was a devout Seventh-day Adventist. “The Bronze Blond Bombshell”, which she came to be known, was a four octave singer often referred to as the “black Marilyn Monroe.”

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.

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