Thelma Carpenter was created in Brooklyn, NY on Jan. 15,1922, the only real child of Fred and Mary Carpenter, and her career spanned seven decades. She was performing on radio programs like Jack Darrell's "Kiddies hour" and also the "Horn and Hardart Children's Hour" at five coupled with her very own display on WNYC when she was 11. After winning an Apollo Theatre amateur night in 1938, she headlined at Kelly's Stable on legendary 52nd St. while still in her own teens. She was heard by producer John Hammond, who placed her with Teddy Wilson's band, that she made an appearance in the Famous Door making her first tracks for Brunswick in 1939. She became a member of Coleman Hawkins' orchestra in 1940 and recorded "He's Funny This WayInch for RCA Bluebird. In 1943, she replaced Helen Humes using the Count Basie band, that she toured for 2 many made numerous broadcast tracks, along with the Columbia single "I Did not What You Think.Inch She made her Broadway debut in "Memphis Bound" with Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the mid 1940s and replaced Dinah Shore as featured performer around the weekly "Eddie Cantor Show" for that 1945-46 season on NBC. She also signed her first contract like a solo artist with Regal Records, releasing twelve sides including "My Guy's Return,Inch "Will Not Help Lovin' That Man," "Hurry Home" and "Harlem on my small Mind," in addition to a swing form of "Joshua Fit de Fight of Jericho" supported by the Ames Siblings within their recording debut. She later recorded two sides with pianist Herman Chittison for Musicraft and 4 sides for Columbia. In 1947, she came back to Broadway within the hit revue "Inside U.S.A." with Beatrice Lillie, adopted with a revival of "Shuffle Along" in 1952 and also the musical "Ankles Aweigh" in 1955. She also did extensive nightclub work and headlined stage shows at such theaters as Loew's Condition, the Capitol and also the Palace. She made early TV appearances with Duke Ellington, Jackie Gleason and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. She signed with Barrier Records in 1961 coupled with a success single answering Elvis with "Yes, I am Lonesome Tonight" and recorded the album "Considering You Tonight," released in 1963. In 1968, she was hired as standby for Gem Bailey in "Hello, Dolly!", soon overtaking the matinees and playing greater than 100 performances. She produced the function of Irene Paige in "Bubbling Brown Sugar," and it was signed by Bob Fosse to experience the Irene Ryan role of Berthe within the national tour of "Pippin." She co-appeared because the mother inside a TV sitcom form of Neil Simon's "Barefoot around the blockInch as well as in 1978 made her major film debut as Miss One out of Sidney Lumet's manufacture of "The Wiz" with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. She performed mom of Gregory and Maurice Hines in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Cotton Club" coupled with TV acting roles on "The Romance Boat," "The Paul Lynde Show" and "Cosby," along with the movies "Call Her Mother" with Connie Stevens and "The Devil's Daughter" with Shelley Winters. Her last major singing performance was around the 1993 all-star NBC special, "Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame." She died of cardiac arrest in 1997.
