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Eartha Kitt: influences, peers and legacy

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Eartha Kitt was a Katherine Dunham dancer before she was a singer, a linguist who sang in a half-dozen languages, and a Broadway firebrand whose 1968 White House anti-war remarks cost her a decade of American work. This mix traces the Dunham company and global cabaret circuit that formed her, the Turkish and French sources behind her hits, and the arch, dangerous persona she bequeathed to pop.

The Kynda mix for Eartha Kitt

  • Key Influence · L'Ag'Ya by Katherine Dunham (1938). Kitt's career began in the Katherine Dunham Company, which she joined as a teenager and toured with through Mexico and Europe, leaving the troupe in Paris to sing in nightclubs. Dunham's anthropological fieldwork in Martinique produced L'Ag'Ya, the fight-dance ballet that defined her method of staging Caribbean ritual as theater. The company's discipline, multilingual touring life, and sense of spectacle shaped everything Kitt did onstage.cr
  • Influencia Obscura · Kâtibim (Üsküdar'a Gider İken) by Safiye Ayla (1949). Kitt's 1953 US hit 'Uska Dara' was an adaptation of the Istanbul folk song 'Kâtibim,' which she encountered while touring Turkey during her cabaret years. Safiye Ayla was among the Turkish singers who made the song standard repertoire. That an American pop chart entry came from an Ottoman-era street melody says everything about Kitt's magpie multilingualism — she sang in French, Turkish, and Spanish before most peers left English.cr
  • Local Roots · Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1935). Kitt was born on a cotton plantation near North, South Carolina, and the Gullah Lowcountry that Gershwin mythologized in Charleston is the same world she came from before being sent north to Harlem as a child. The gap between that rural origin and the polyglot sophisticate she became is the central fact of her biography, and the opera marks the American stage's most ambitious attempt to put that region onstage.cr
  • Beyond the Medium · Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1808). Welles's Time Runs, the Paris production that made Kitt an actress, was his own compressed Faust, with Kitt as Helen of Troy summoned from the underworld. Goethe's bargain-with-the-devil text thus sits directly under her first serious stage role, and the diabolical glamour she then commercialized in 'I Want to Be Evil' is a pop reduction of exactly that archetype: temptation performed with a wink.cr
  • Peer · Carmen Jones by Dorothy Dandridge (1954). Dandridge and Kitt were the two Black women Hollywood and Broadway briefly allowed to be leading sexual presences in the mid-fifties, competing for an impossibly narrow set of roles. Both came up through nightclub work; both found the industry had no second act prepared for them. Dandridge's Oscar-nominated Carmen is the exact contemporary benchmark against which Kitt's screen career was measured.cr
  • From the Canon · That Bad Eartha by Eartha Kitt (1956). The RCA album that consolidated the persona: arch, feline, multilingual, with the vamp fully weaponized. Collecting the material that made her a chart presence after New Faces of 1952, it shows the method — tiny dynamic shifts, rolled consonants, a comic timing borrowed from the stage — that distinguishes her from every other fifties pop vocalist. This is the record that defines what 'Eartha Kitt' means.cr
  • Key Collaborator · Y.M.C.A. by Village People (1978). Jacques Morali, the French producer who built Village People, produced Kitt's 1983 comeback 'Where Is My Man' and the Love for Sale album around it — the collaboration that reinvented her for the disco era. His maximalist, camp-fluent production understood exactly what her voice could do over four-on-the-floor. Y.M.C.A. is his signature construction and the clearest statement of the sensibility he brought to her.cr
  • Legacy · Nightclubbing by Grace Jones (1981). Jones built a career on the same proposition Kitt invented: a Black woman performing predatory glamour as deliberate theater, speaking lyrics as much as singing them, and using an accent as costume. The Paris-to-New York nightclub path, the androgynous menace, the refusal to be merely decorative — all of it runs back through Kitt's fifties persona to the Dunham stage discipline underneath it.cr

What influenced Eartha Kitt

  • Syvilla Fort (1917). Kitt is named as a student of Fort. “Those classes were unbelievable. We would walk in and down one end of the barre you would see Eartha Kitt.” (The Dance Enthusiast)
  • Katherine Dunham (1909). Eartha Kitt trained and danced under Dunham before her singing career. (also via L'Ag'Ya) “she won a scholarship to the Dunham school and later became a dancer with the company, before beginning her successful singing career.” (Wikipedia)
  • Citizen Kane by Orson Welles (1941). Citizen Kane (Orson Welles) — titan for Eartha Kitt “Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the world".” (en.wikipedia.org)
  • Montage of a Dream Deferred by Langston Hughes (1951). Montage of a Dream Deferred (Langston Hughes) — culture for Eartha Kitt (openlibrary.org)
  • Faust. Faust (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) — culture for Eartha Kitt (openlibrary.org)
  • C'est si bon by Yves Montand (1948). C'est si bon (Yves Montand) — ghost for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • L'Ag'Ya by Katherine Dunham (1938). L'Ag'Ya (Katherine Dunham) — titan for Eartha Kitt “== Career == Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company in 1943 and remained a member of the troupe until 1948.” (en.wikipedia.org)
  • The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (1963). The Fire Next Time (James Baldwin) — culture for Eartha Kitt (openlibrary.org)
  • Princesse Tam Tam by Josephine Baker (1935). Princesse Tam Tam (Josephine Baker) — titan for Eartha Kitt
  • Kâtibim (Üsküdar'a Gider İken) by Safiye Ayla (1949). Kâtibim (Üsküdar'a Gider İken) (Safiye Ayla) — ghost for Eartha Kitt

Peers and kindred spirits

  • Women's International League for Peace and Freedom by Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. Explicitly identifies Kitt as a member of the peace organization. “Kitt’s membership in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and her open criticism of the Vietnam War, with its connection to poverty and racial unrest, was just a small part of her passionate activism.” (Jazz 88.3 KCCK)
  • Kittsville Youth Foundation by Kittsville Youth Foundation. States that Kitt established the foundation in 1966. “She established the Kittsville Youth Foundation, a non-profit for underprivileged youths in the Watts area of Los Angeles.” (Jazz 88.3 KCCK)
  • Orson Welles by Orson Welles (1915). Kitt starred in a production staged by Welles. (also via Citizen Kane) “In 1950, Orson Welles gave Kitt her first starring role as Helen of Troy in his staging of Dr. Faustus .” (Wikipedia)
  • Vanessa Williams by Vanessa Williams. Contemporaneous reporting places Kitt and Williams in the same musical-theatre workshop. “Vanessa Williams, Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt were among performers in a Feb. 15-26 workshop for the Public Theater's still-developing new musical, The Wild Party .” (Playbill)
  • Bronski Beat by Bronski Beat. Identifies two recordings Kitt made with Bronski Beat. “Bronski Beat joined Eartha for “My Discarded Men” (based on an offhand quip from the famously sultry star) and “Cha-Cha Heels.”” (The Second Disc)
  • Katherine Dunham Company by Katherine Dunham. Kitt was a member of Katherine Dunham's troupe. “Kitt began her career as a member of the Katherine Dunham Company in 1943 and remained a member of the troupe until 1948.” (Wikipedia)
  • I'm Still Here by Stephen Sondheim. Kitt performed the Sondheim song in two stage shows. “Kitt – a singer, dancer, actress, activist, and genuine trailblazer – made “I’m Still Here” her own when she portrayed Carlotta Campion (replacing Dolores Gray) in the West End premiere of Follies .” (The Second Disc)
  • Diana Ross (1944). Ross and Eartha Kitt participated in a recording of We Are Family. “Diana Ross , Patti LaBelle , Dionne Warwick , Phoebe Snow and Eartha Kitt were just some of the stars who turned up on Saturday in New York to record a charity tribute version of Nile Rodgers ' Sister Sledge hit "We Are Family."” (Fox News)
  • George Burns. Kitt appeared at a fundraiser with Burns. “Kitt appeared with Jimmy James and George Burns at a fundraiser in 1990 produced by Scott Sherman, an agent from the Atlantic Entertainment Group.” (Wikipedia)
  • Lucky Millinder (1910). Notes Lucky Millinder's band performing together with Eartha Kitt at the Apollo. “Lucky Millinder and his band go into Harlem’s Apollo Theatre this month with Eartha Kitt” (Jackson Advocate (Jackson, Miss.))
  • Follies. Identifies Kitt’s role in the West End production of Sondheim’s musical. “Kitt – a singer, dancer, actress, activist, and genuine trailblazer – made “I’m Still Here” her own when she portrayed Carlotta Campion (replacing Dolores Gray) in the West End premiere of Follies .” (The Second Disc)
  • Harry Secombe. Kitt and Secombe appeared together in a skit. “The Royal Variety Performance in the London Palladium on 29th October 1962 featured Kitt singing solo, but also appearing in a skit with Harry Secombe .” (Wikipedia)
  • Jimmy James. Kitt appeared at a fundraiser with James. “Kitt appeared with Jimmy James and George Burns at a fundraiser in 1990 produced by Scott Sherman, an agent from the Atlantic Entertainment Group.” (Wikipedia)
  • Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by The Platters. Kitt recorded her rendition of the named song. “She re-recorded " Smoke Gets in Your Eyes " for the occasion, was showcased on the MAC website, and the song was played at all MAC locations carrying the collection for the month.” (Wikipedia)
  • I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. Describes Kitt performing “I Will Survive” in her London concert recording. “Kitt puts her stamp on other standards (“Here’s to Life,” “Ne Me Quitte Pas,” “St. Louis Blues”) before concluding with a valedictory one-two punch of “I Will Survive” and “I’m Still Here.”” (The Second Disc)
  • The Age of Consent by Bronski Beat (1984). The Age of Consent (Bronski Beat) — collaborator for Eartha Kitt “Kitt's 1989 follow-up hit "Cha-Cha Heels" (featuring Bronski Beat), which was originally intended to be recorded by Divine, received a positive response from UK dance clubs, reaching No.” (en.wikipedia.org)
  • Y.M.C.A. by Village People (1978). Y.M.C.A. (Village People) — collaborator for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • Lady in Satin by Billie Holiday. Lady in Satin (Billie Holiday) — geography for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin. Porgy and Bess (George Gershwin) — geography for Eartha Kitt (wikidata.org)
  • Stormy Weather. Stormy Weather (Lena Horne) — geography for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • Abbey Is Blue by Abbey Lincoln (1959). Abbey Is Blue (Abbey Lincoln) — peer for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • I Put a Spell on You by Nina Simone (1965). I Put a Spell on You (Nina Simone) — peer for Eartha Kitt (musicbrainz.org)
  • Santa Baby by Joan Javits (1953). Santa Baby (Joan Javits) — collaborator for Eartha Kitt
  • Carmen Jones by Dorothy Dandridge (1954). Carmen Jones (Dorothy Dandridge) — peer for Eartha Kitt

Who Eartha Kitt influenced