Portal:Philadelphia/Selected biography/November 2006

Gladys Bentley was a famous African American blues singer during the Harlem Renaissance. Bentley was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was the daughter of American George L. Bentley and his wife, a Trinidadian, Mary Mote. In New York City, she appeared at Harry Hansberry's "Clam House" on 133rd Street, and headlined in the early thirties at Harlem's Ubangi Club. A lesbian, her performances had her dressed in men's clothes and piano playing while singing her own obscene lyrics to popular tunes of the day.