LINDA HOPKINS, 92, on April 17 in Milwaukee, WI. A Tony-winning actress and singer, she performed gospel, blues, and rhythm & blues for more than 40 years.
In her 1975-76 tribute to Bessie Smith, she held the stage for the entire evening, doing more than 20 of the great blues singer’s songs for 453 performances, making Me and Bessie the longest-running, one-woman show in Broadway history up to that time. She returned to Broadway in 1989 in Black and Blue that evoked the glory years of the Cotton Club in the 1920s and ’30s.
