Linda Hopkins

Linda Hopkins, born Melinda Helen Matthews on December 14, 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana, was an American actress, blues and gospel singer, and book writer whose Broadway career spanned from 1970 to 1989. She recorded across multiple genres, including classic, traditional, and urban blues, R&B, soul, jazz, and show tunes. Hopkins died on April 10, 2017, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 92.

The second child of Reverend Fred Matthews, Sr. and Hazel Smith, Hopkins grew up in the New Orleans neighborhood known locally as Zion City and attended school in Gert Town, which bordered Xavier University of Louisiana. As a child she was known as Lil Helen Matthews. At eleven years old, she persuaded Mahalia Jackson to perform at a fundraiser at her home church, St. Mark's Baptist Church, opening the children's program herself with a rendition of Jackson's gospel song "God Shall Wipe Your Tears Away." Jackson was sufficiently impressed to arrange for the young girl to join the Southern Harp Spiritual Singers in 1936, a group with which Hopkins remained for a decade. That same year, she saw Bessie Smith perform Empty Bed Blues at the New Orleans Palace Theatre, an experience that would shape her later career. Hopkins attended Stella Adler's Acting School in New York City and studied at the University of California, Los Angeles, where a doctoral study of her career, Motherin' The Blues: Linda Hopkins — The Continuing Legacy of The Blues Woman, was researched and written by Erany Barrow-Pryor, Ph.D. through the Department of English and published in 2005.

Matthews left New Orleans in the 1950s and began performing at Slim Jenkins' Night Club in the Oakland and Richmond area in 1951, where she met Johnny Otis and Little Esther Phillips, who created her stage name, Linda Hopkins. In 1952 she toured Hawaii and Japan for two years, including a stint with Louis Armstrong at The Brown Derby in Honolulu. Hopkins recorded for the Savoy, Crystalette, Forecast, Federal, and Atco labels and appeared regularly at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem. In 1960 she toured Europe in Broadway Express, a restaged production of Jazz Train, having previously appeared in the 1959 theatrical presentation of the same show, which earned her critical recognition for her portrayal of Bessie Smith. She recorded "Shake a Hand" with Jackie Wilson on the Brunswick label, a collaboration that reached number 21 on the US Billboard R&B chart, and also recorded "I Found Love" and "There's Nothing Like Love" with Wilson on Brunswick in early 1962.

Hopkins made her Broadway debut in 1970 and went on to appear in four productions over the course of her stage career. She performed in Purlie during the 1970s alongside Sammy Davis Jr. for nine months. Her role in Inner City earned her both a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance, both in 1972. She also performed at President Jimmy Carter's 1977 inaugural ball and sang "Do You Believe" at the political event Star-Spangled Women for McGovern–Shriver, bringing 19,000 people to their feet.

Hopkins conceived and co-wrote Me and Bessie, a one-woman show paying homage to Bessie Smith, developed with Will Holt. The production premiered in Washington, D.C., in 1974, subsequently ran in Los Angeles, and transferred to the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway, where it ran for 453 performances over thirteen months. Hopkins received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience for the show. A cast recording was released on Columbia in 1976. Black and Blue, written by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzoli, premiered in Paris at the Théâtre Musical Paris in 1985 before opening on Broadway in 1989, where it ran for 829 performances. Hopkins received a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her work in the production.

Beyond Broadway, Hopkins conceived Wild Women Blues with William Lipscomb, produced by Mel Howard, which premiered in Berlin in 1997. In October 2005, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1998 she marked 50 years in show business.