Life
Anderson was born in Louisiana. With a sweet, clear singing voice, she was a popular attraction with Ellington's band. Her performance of "Stormy Weather" in the movie short Bundle of Blues (1933) was only eclipsed by the later and far better-known version sung by Lena Horne in Horne's movie that was also entitled Stormy Weather (1943).
Over Ellington's long career as bandleader, his indifference toward vocalists changed with the hiring of Anderson, who was generally considered the best vocalist he ever employed.
She also appeared as a singer in the Marx Brothers movie A Day at the Races (1937) and the same year in Hit Parade of 1937 (as Ivy Anderson).
She developed chronic asthma, which forced her to retire from touring in August 1942. She ran a chicken restaurant (Ivie's Chicken Shack) in Los Angeles and continued singing in nightclubs on the West Coast, but deteriorating health limited her engagements and led to her untimely death.
Ivie Anderson died at age 44 in Los Angeles, California. She is interred in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery.
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