In 1947, nineteen year old Jo Thompson sang Slender, Tender and Tall on Amateur Night at the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. She accompanied herself on piano. An unaffected spirited, and refined performer—she knocked ‘m dead, won, and was “discovered.”
In 2010, eighty-two year old Jo Thompson (Dunmore) sang, sassed, growled and purred her way through Slender, Tender and Tall, Honeyssssssssuckle Rose and more at The Metropolitan Room in New York City. Her husky voice was strong, smooth and clear. If she had swung it out any further, it’d be in New Jersey.
Jo Thompson has been an entertainer for over fifty years. She traveled alone (and with her mother) throughout the United States on sleeper trains performing in all white clubs, drinking at separate fountains, having to arrange her own accommodations. In Miami, where she established a reputation, beach signs read, “No Coloreds, Jews, or Dogs.” Jo’s agent at the time told her, “Just take the money and run.” She dealt with it—and always like a lady. “As black female musicians, we understood that the concept of class was paramount to our image as well as being representatives trying to dispel ugly stereotypes.”
In 1954, Walter Winchell caught her show at Ciro’s. The next day his column in Variety stated “New York night spot owners: Grab Jo Thompson, a delightful ebony, Calypso thrush.” A new, busier, classier chapter began.
Married in 1955 to a journalist who got himself transferred to Florida in order to meet her, she continued with her career living both there and in her home town of Detroit. Jo was a familiar performer at The Sans Souci Nightclub and Casino in pre-Castro Cuba “even more glamorous than early Hollywood films portray;” Barney Josephson’s Café Society, the first integrated nightclub in the United States—whose name was chosen to defy the pretensions of the rich; Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe in the basement of Time Square’s Paramount Hotel—where Noble Sissel might wander off the bandstand handing her conducting responsibilities.
Jo spent many happy hours with Lena Horne and her husband, Lenny, in the dressing rooms at Jack Goldman’s Clover Club where they were both featured. Horne gave her style advice. Billie Holiday cooked dinner for her. Bobby Short shared the same booking agent and performed for the last time on a bill with Jo at The Detroit Opera House. Hazel Scott, Dorothy Donegan, Lionel Hampton and Sammy Davis Jr. were among her friends. Aretha Franklin hired her for a private party in 1990; they became friends. She’s somewhat irresistible.
While managing to raise three Ivy League sons in Detroit, she continued to work playing shorter runs and/or sticking closer to home when her successful husband was unable to travel with her. Al Dunmore died in 1989. Jo was sixty. Her son, Greg Dunmore, took over her management. They collectively design her gowns! She continues performing—now sometimes further afield—in Brazil, Japan, California, New York…to accolades.
This is a strong, joyful, woman, and, at eighty-two years old, a great performer.
Catch Jo’s tribute concert: Thank You Lena!!!
The Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue
December 4 at 2:00 p.m.
With Q & A after: Forever Fabulous: A conversation with Ms Jo Thompson
