She was a standout singer – but crumbled after a brutal marriage and backstreet abortion. Ahead of a new reissue, her peers recall what happened to this singular talent
he late British jazz singer George Melly used to ask his audiences: “Who is the greatest blues vocalist Britain has ever produced?” He’d tease them, asking, “Mick Jagger? No! Steve Winwood? No! Van Morrison? No!”, before suggesting the greatest of all time was Ottilie Patterson. Who?
“Ottilie was a standout talent – in terms of writing skills, vocal distinction, performance and charisma,” says BBC presenter and singer Cerys Matthews. “She emits true authenticity and originality, even while singing blues – so much so her abilities were recognised by her American blues peers.” It was never on the cards that Anna Ottilie Patterson would rise to international prominence singing jazz and blues. Born in 1932 to a British father and a Latvian mother, Patterson received classical piano training. But when she enrolled at Belfast College of Technology to study art in 1949, she heard 78s by Jelly Roll Morton, Meade Lux Lewis and, most importantly, Bessie Smith.
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