EARTHA KITT is an
international star who gives new meaning to the word versatile. She has distinguished herself in film,
theater, cabaret, music and on television. Miss Kitt is one of only a handful
of performers to be nominated for a Tony (three times), the Grammy (twice), and
Emmy Award (twice). She regularly
enthralls New York nightclub audiences during her extended stays at THE CAFƒ CARLYLE and these intimate performances have been captured in her newest recording, Eartha Kitt, Live at The
Carlyle.
Miss KittÕs distinctive voice has enthralled an entirely new
generation of fans. Young fans
loved her as YZMA, the villain, in DisneyÕs animated
feature THE EMPERORÕS NEW GROOVE, (2001 Annie Award for Best Vocal
Performance / Animated Feature). Miss
Kitt was also featured in the sequel, THE EMPERORÕS NEW GROOVE II and reprised the role in the popular Saturday morning animated series The EmperorÕs New School (2007
Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program and 2007 Annie
Award for Best Vocal Performance in an Animated Television Production).
Eartha Mae Kitt
was ostracized at an early age because of her mixed-race heritage. At eight years old, she was given away
by her mother and sent from the South Carolina cotton fields to live with an
aunt in Harlem. In New York her
distinct individuality and flair for show business manifested itself, and on a
friendÕs dare, the shy teen auditioned for the famed KATHERINE DUNHAM DANCE TROUPE. She won a spot as a featured dancer
and vocalist and before the age of twenty, toured worldwide with the
company. During a performance in
Paris, Miss Kitt was spotted by a nightclub owner and
booked as a featured singer at his club.
Her unique persona earned her fans and fame quickly, including Orson
Welles, who called her Òthe most exciting woman in the worldÓ. Welles was so taken with her talent
that he cast her as Helen of Troy in his fabled production of DR. FAUST.
Back in New York,
Miss Kitt was booked at The Village Vanguard, and soon spotted by a Broadway producer who
put her in NEW FACES OF 1952 where every night she transfixed
audiences with her sultry rendition of Monotonous. Her show stopping performance in NEW FACES, which ran
for a year, led to a national tour and a Twentieth Century Fox film version.
Broadway stardom
led to a recording contract and a succession of best-selling records including Love for
Sale, I Want to Be Evil, Santa Baby and Folk Tales of the Tribes of
Africa, which earned her a Grammy nomination. During this period, she published her first autobiography, THURSDAYÕS CHILD. Miss Kitt then returned to Broadway in the
dramatic play MRS. PATTERSON, and received her first Tony
nomination. Other stage
appearances followed, as did films including THE MARK OF HAWK with Sidney
Poitier, ANNA LUCASTA with Sammy Davis, Jr. and ST LOUIS BLUES with Nat King Cole.
In 1967, Miss Kitt made an indelible mark on pop culture as the infamous CATWOMAN in the television series, BATMAN. She immediately became synonymous with the role and her
trademark growl became imitated worldwide.
Singing in ten
different languages, Miss Kitt has performed in over
100 countries and was honored with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame
in 1960. In 1966, she was
nominated for an Emmy for her role in the series, I SPY. In 1968, Miss KittÕs career took a
sudden turn when, at a White House luncheon hosted by Lady Bird Johnson, she
spoke out against the Vietnam War.
For years afterward, Miss Kitt was blacklisted
in the U.S. and was forced to work abroad where her status remained undiminished. In December 2006 she returned to Washington and light the National Christmas Tree alongside President and Mrs. George W. Bush.
In 1974, Miss Kitt returned to the United States, with a triumphant Carnegie Hall concert and, in 1978,
received a second Tony nomination for her starring role in the musical, TIMBUKTU. Miss KittÕs second autobiography, ALONE WITH ME, was published in 1976 and IÕM STILL HERE: CONFESSIONS OF A SEX KITTEN was released in 1989.
Her best-selling book on fitness and positive attitude, REJUVENATE! (ITÕS NEVER TOO LATE), was released by Scribner in May 2001.
Live theater is
Miss KittÕs passion. In 2001, Broadway critics singled her out with a Tony and
Drama Desk nomination for her role as Dolores
in George WolfeÕs THE WILD PARTY. Over the last few years, she has starred in National Tours
of THE WIZARD OF OZ and Rogers &
HammersteinÕs CINDERELLA. In December 2003,
Miss Kitt dazzled Broadway audiences as Liliane Le Fleur in the revival of NINE, THE MUSICAL. In December 2004,
she appeared as The Fairy Godmother
in The New York City Opera production (Lincoln Center) of CINDERELLA. Most recently,
she starred in the off-Broadway production of Mimi
Le Duck (2006) and The Westport County Playhouse production of The Skin of Our Teeth (2007).
Miss Kitt remains devoted to performing in front of live
audiences, from intimate cabarets to concert halls with local symphonies. Recent appearances include appearances at
DetroitÕs Music Hall, Washington,
D.C.Õs Blues Alley, SeattleÕs Jazz Alley, Palm BeachÕs Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, The
Mohegan Sun CasinoÕs Cabaret Showroom,
SarasotaÕs Van Wetzel Center for the
Performing Arts Festival. She is especially proud to have brought
her one-woman show to the 51st Annual JVC Newport Jazz Festival and the Miami Beach JVC Jazz Festival. In February 2007, British audiences welcomed Miss Kitt back to London for a special series of eight sold-out
performances at The Shaw Theater.
On January 17 2007,
Miss Kitt turned eighty years old and marked the
occasion at Carnegie Hall with a celebratory concert, JVC Jazz presents Eartha Kitt and Friends. .
Her legend has
been chronicled in such diverse publications as alternative musical chroniclers
ÒFadarÓ and ÒHarpÓ to ÒHarpers Bazaar,Ó ÒInStyle,Ó ÒPeople,Ó ÒVanity FairÓ and many others. As The
New York TimesÕ FStephen Holden
wrote, ÒEartha Kitt is being discovered by the generation that thought
Madonna pioneered the image of the pop singer as a gold-digging femme fataleÉHer
avariciously slinky stage alter ego is as classic in its way as Mae WestÕs
shimmying blond bawd, and just as funny.Ó