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Anna Marie Wooldridge, known professionally as Abbey Lincoln (August 6, 1930 - August 14, 2010), was an influential American jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress who emerged as a powerful voice for civil rights and Black identity in music. Born in Chicago and raised on a farm in rural Michigan as the tenth of twelve children, she began singing in school and church choirs before launching her professional career in the early 1950s under the stage name Gaby Lee in California and Hawaii. In 1956, she adopted the name Abbey Lincoln, combining Westminster Abbey and Abraham Lincoln, and released her debut album Abbey Lincoln's Affair: A Story of a Girl in Love with Benny Carter.
Lincoln's artistic breakthrough came with We Insist! Max Roach Freedom Now Suite (1960), hailed as the first outright protest album in jazz, which featured her raw, emotive vocals addressing oppression and civil rights struggles. Throughout the 1960s, she married drummer Max Roach and became deeply committed to Black artistic identity, releasing politically charged albums including Straight Ahead (1961). After a period of diminished activity, her career experienced a major resurgence in 1990 when French producer Jean-Philippe Allard signed her to Verve Records, resulting in The World Is Falling Down and a string of critically acclaimed albums that showcased her mature vocal command. She also recorded one significant albums with the French label Futura Marge: Painted Lady (1980).
Known for her distinctive, rough-hewn voice and inimitable diction, Lincoln recorded over 20 albums and appeared in several films, including The Girl Can't Help It (1956). Her final album, Abbey Sings Abbey (2007), released at age 77, featured her own compositions alongside standards like Thelonious Monk's "Blue Monk". She received the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award in 2003 and died at age 80 in her Manhattan apartment, leaving behind a legacy as one of jazz's most prestigious female voices who pioneered new approaches to jazz singing.
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