Biography
Born in 1928 in Middletown, Ohio, Dawn Hampton absorbed her earliest musical influences from her father, who directed the territory band Deacon Hampton’s Pickaninnys and featured several relatives among its players. The youngest of eleven siblings, she counted trombonist Slide Hampton among them. Beginning at age three she performed with the family band and its accompanying vaudeville presentation. Following the close of World War II the group reassembled as a fourteen-piece ensemble that included nine family members; under the direction of her brother Duke Hampton the unit toured widely, with Hampton herself handling alto and tenor saxophone duties while also singing and dancing. In 1950 the band appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, sharing the program with the unrelated Lionel Hampton. After several years on the road the ensemble disbanded, leading Hampton to establish residence in New York City in 1958. She joined the off-Broadway production Greenwich Village, U.S.A., which yielded a scarce original-cast recording that captured her contributions. During the early 1960s she served as house singer at the Lion’s Den. Surgery in 1964 resulted in vocal-cord damage that required a year of recovery before she could return to performing. Her profile rose sharply after she began appearing at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1966 and attracted a steady audience.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Hampton maintained a presence in New York-area cabaret rooms. Private Lives magazine honored her with its Lifetime Achievement in Cabaret award. In 1988 the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) nominated her for Distinguished Achievement, Director, and Composer honors. The next year she and pianist Mark Nadler jointly wrote the music and lyrics for Red Light, which received a MAC Award in 1990; the same partnership produced An Evening With Dawn Hampton. She also supplied music and lyrics for the play Madame C.J. Walker. In 1992 she performed on screen with veteran dancer Frank Manning in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. From the late 1990s into the early 2000s she capitalized on the swing-dance revival, traveling internationally as both performer and instructor.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Hampton maintained a presence in New York-area cabaret rooms. Private Lives magazine honored her with its Lifetime Achievement in Cabaret award. In 1988 the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) nominated her for Distinguished Achievement, Director, and Composer honors. The next year she and pianist Mark Nadler jointly wrote the music and lyrics for Red Light, which received a MAC Award in 1990; the same partnership produced An Evening With Dawn Hampton. She also supplied music and lyrics for the play Madame C.J. Walker. In 1992 she performed on screen with veteran dancer Frank Manning in Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. From the late 1990s into the early 2000s she capitalized on the swing-dance revival, traveling internationally as both performer and instructor.