Anna Mae Winburn

Anna Mae Winburn
Anna Mae Winburn and William D. Alexander in the 1940s
Background information
Birth name	Anna Mae Winburn
Born	(1913-08-13)August 13, 1913 Port Royal, Tennessee, U.S.
Died	September 30, 1999(1999-09-30) (aged 86)
Genres	Jazz, big band
Occupation(s)	Singer, bandleader
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1936–1956
Associated acts	International Sweethearts of Rhythm, Cotton Club Boys

Anna Mae Winburn, née Darden (August 13, 1913 – September 30, 1999) was an African-American vocalist and jazz bandleader who flourished beginning in the mid-1930s. She is best known for having directed the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female big band that was perhaps one of the few — and one of the most — racially integrated dance-bands of the swing era.

Anna Mae Winburn was born to a musical family in Port Royal, Tennessee, and migrated to Kokomo, Indiana, at a young age. Her mother's maiden name was Canell. She had three sisters: Matilda, Judy, and Easter.

Julia Mae (Judy) Darden (b. December 20, 1920) sang with groups around Minneapolis] and was married to Frank Perkins, a pianist and son of Red Perkins. Sometime around 1961 Judy married saxophonist and bandleader Percy Caesar Hughes of Minneapolis. Judy, then known as Julia Mae Hughes, died of lung cancer on January 1, 1975. Anna Mae's sister Easter married drummer and vibist William "Jeep" Stewart, and after divorcing him, later married James Overton.

Winburn married Eustace "Duke" Pilgrim (b. 1921 Eustace Michael Pilgrim; d. 1970) around 1948. They had four children. They lived in Elmhurst, New York, among many Harlem transplants and jazz greats. Duke Pilgrim had a prior marriage to Alberta Adams.

Winburn died in 1999 in Hempstead, New York.

Her first known publicized performance was singing with the studio band of Radio WOWO, Fort Wayne. She worked at various clubs in Indiana, including the Chateau Lido in Indianapolis (where she appeared under the pseudonym Anita Door).

From there she moved to North Omaha, Nebraska, where she sang and played guitar for a variety of territory bands, or groups whose touring activities and popularity were geographically limited to several adjoining states, that were led by Red Perkins. During that time Winburn was a collaborator of Lloyd Hunter, frequently singing for Lloyd Hunter's "Serenaders". She also led the Cotton Club Boys out of Omaha, a group that at one point included the amazing guitarist Charlie Christian. When many of the musicians were lost to the World War II draft, Winburn joined the International Sweethearts of Rhythm. Soon she went to Oklahoma City and led bands for a short while. It was there that she led Eddie Durham's "All-Girl Orchestra", which eventually earned her an invite to join the International Sweethearts of Rhythm.