Accidental Demise – The Dinah Washington Story HT

 

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You know, the blues genre was created by African-Ameans in the deep south of the United States around the end of the 19th century. That genre developed from roots in Africa musical traditions, African-American work songs, spirituals, and folk music. And singer Maine is considered the mother of blues.

 But Diana Washington is called the queen of the blues and she was also known as the queen of the jukeboxes. You know Quincy Jones stated that Diana Washington had a one-of-a-kind beautiful singing voice and you could understand every single syllable of every single word she sang. She had a perfect pitch and clarity in her voice.

 And if you wasn’t in tune with her, she would let you know about it. And another advantage she had was she was a excellent piano player, too. But look, she could be mean now as y’all seen it on the the Respect the Artha Franklin movie starring Jennifer Hudson. Mary J. Blige played her. She played Donna Washington.

 She could be mean and she had a bad temper on her if he made her mad. She was always fighting, cursing people out, but a lot of it was due to the pressure she had on her. And this was all during the era where she faced a lot of racism. And legend has it she was married like seven, eight, nine times. And she had a lot of boyfriends in which most of them turned out to be freeloaders looking to take advantage of the money she was making.

But Donna, she set a lot of trends in the fashion world, too. But, you know, just like every other great musician back then and now, the drugs took her out at a very young age. So, let’s get to her story. Right. Now, Dana Washington’s real name is Ruth Lee Jones, and she was born on August 29th, 1924 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but raised in Chicago, Illinois.

Now, she was one out of four kids from her mother who worked as a maid, and her father was a small town gambler who often was gone most of the time from the family. Now, it was around the age of 3 or four years old when her family decided to leave Alabama for Chicago because that was the era of the great migration.

 A lot of black people left the south to go north to find better paying jobs to escape the violence and the racism from the south, from the KKK. Now, Chicago was way better than living in the south at that time. But when they arrived there, it was during the time of the Great Depression. And growing up in southside Chicago, she and her family were very poor.

 She lived in the projects full of rats and roaches with not enough food or clothing. And you know, kids used to pick on her. And look, they gave her the nickname alligator because she had bad skin. And they also used to call her chubby and fat. But one thing they couldn’t make fun of was her musical talent.

 Now, now see, her mother was musically talented, too, and would play the piano at their church and would give lessons. Back in Alabama, her mother was the church choir director. She had Donna playing the piano since elementary school, and Donna also played for the church. But when she discovered that she could sing, Diana was singing at all the local churches by request.

And that’s when she and her mother became a performing duo act. Now, the high school she went to was called Windendell Phillips Academy High School. And some famous people you may know that attended that high school were Nat King Cole, Sam Cook, Herby Hancock, actress Mara Gibbs from the Jeffersons who played Florence, and many more.

 But anyway, by that time she hit high school, right? People started to respect her for her singing talent, but singing gospel music, it just wasn’t no money. It wasn’t a money make at that time. She knew in order to make some money, she would have to work the club singing jazz music.

 Because see, at that time, Billy Billy Holiday was her idol when it came to secular music. But she had to keep it a secret from her mother. You know, back then secular music was called the devil’s music, which is still called that today. But without her mother knowing, she ended up winning a talent contest at the age of 15 years old. and she started becoming popular locally and that’s when she began performing in clubs but she wouldn’t use her real name because she didn’t want her mother to find out.

 But then she ended up meeting a gospel singer named Sally Martin who some call the mother of gospel. Sally Martin is the one who helped Mahalia Jackson and Thomas A. Dorsy. But anyway, so once Dina joined the Sally Martin group, the Gospel Singers Convention, she started meeting people like Mahalia Jackson and CL Franklin, who is Artha Franklin’s father.

 But singing gospel wasn’t enough for Dina. She wanted to make some money. And she ended up dropping out of high school by the age of 15 years old. By the age of 17 years old, she married her first husband named John Young who was much older than her. He was around the age between the they say he was like 30 to 40 or something like that. She was only 17 years old.

You know, she had lied about her age saying she was 18 years old on a marriage certificate. But her husband John Young, he had promised to get her in the music business. And plus, she wanted to get away from her family and leave the ghetto anyway. So she felt that being with him was an opportunity. Now singing jazz music in clubs, she ended up meeting legendary jazz pianist and singer Fats Waller, who was impressed by her singing voice.

 But she and her husband John Young ended up getting divorced about 3 months later because Dina was always flirting with other men at the clubs and he couldn’t take it. He just couldn’t take it because he wanted her to be a stay-at-home wife instead of being an entertainer. He had changed his mind about her being a star.

 He wanted her to stay home. Now, this was the start of Dina marrying and dating a bunch of men after her first marriage. Now, Diana continued singing in clubs, making $50 a week. And one of the club owners decided to change her name to Dina Washington. The club owner thought that she needed a name that was more attractive. Then she ended up meeting legendary jazz band leader Liono Hampton and he hired her as his first female band vocalist after he heard her singing in the club.

You know, he really wanted uh Billy Holiday to be his full-time singer, but she declined his offer. But you know when he had met Dina at that time she was just a a washroom attendant but she would come out in the club every time she had a chance to sing or whatever when the band was playing and people kept telling Lion Hampton that he needed to hear Dina sing.

 But anyway, so he heard her sing and he hired her to work in his band. Now, a lot of people in the Lino Hampton band used to treat her bad and really wouldn’t talk to her because she wasn’t attractive back in those days the light-skinned girls were in. You know, Dina was dark. But Dina didn’t care and was determined to make it big.

And she kind of started acting like the boys in the band. If the boys would find a girl every town they went to, huh, Diana would find a man every time they went to a different town. And you know what’s crazy? That’s when the men in the band started to find her attractive. Wow. And you know, Lionel Hampton’s wife named Glattis Hampton started to help her with her fashion and show her how to handle her business in a man’s world who dominated the music business during that time.

 But during that time with the great Lionel Hampton, they will only let her sing maybe two songs a night because his music was based on instrumentals and Dina wanted to sing all the time and she wanted that money. She was about that money. Lionel Hampton stated that he always had her perform last because her performances eclipse anyone who followed her.

 And Lionel Hampton didn’t mind if she wanted to record some music on her own. And he would even help her out with some sounds for her music. He just wanted to be a part of what she was doing. After that, Diana ended up meeting a musician songwriter named Leonard Feather, who got her a solo record deal on Keynote Records. And in 1944, she released a few songs like Evil Gal Blues and Salty Papa Blues, which appeared on Billboard magazines Harlem Hit Parade Charts.

Harlem Hit Parade Charts, y’all. You know, before before they even had the genre R&B charts, it was called the Harlem Hit Parade Charts. Then they changed it to race records charts. And then in 1949, Billboard came with the Rhythm and Blues charts. And by 1956 they called it the hot R&B singles chart.

 And now these days we got all kinds of charts these days. But anyway, now another song she released that hit the charts was called Blow Top Blues with Lionel Hampton. But right after that, she ended up leaving Lionel Hampton’s band. And rumor has it, they say uh in order for her to get out of her contract with him, she had to pull out a gun on him.

Wow, that’s crazy. But right after she left him, she signed to Apollo Records. Now, Apollo Records had signed her to sing blues music and they also had signed Mahalia Jackson to sing gospel at that time. Now, also around that time, she met her second husband, a musician named George Jenkins.

 He was actually a drummer in Lionel Hampton’s band. But once he got Dina pregnant, he didn’t want to be with her anymore. Plus, he didn’t want anything to do with the child either. But Lionel Hampton and the band members convinced him to do the right thing. And in 1946, while pregnant, 21-year-old Diana married her second husband, George Jenkins, shortly before the birth of their son, George Jenkins Jr.

, but you know, that relationship didn’t last. They ended up getting divorced months later that same year. You know, Donna said that some of the reasons they got divorced were he was spending her money because he told her, you know, he said he should insult her and everything. He call her big black girl. nobody wanted.

He also slapped her one time and he was messing with a lot of women on the side. Plus, he did drugs at that time in which she was totally against at that time. She was against drugs. Now, the deal with Apollo Records didn’t work out and that’s when she ended up signing to Mercury Records where she we spent 15 years on Mercury Records in 1947.

She married her third husband named Bobby Grayson who was the son of a minister at her childhood church. And you know what? He had precided over Donna’s first marriage and they knew each other from high school. He actually uh was her childhood sweetheart. Then she gave birth to her second child who she named Robert Grayson Jr.

 But here we go. Here we go. That relationship didn’t last because he was known to be a player with the women. He had no intentions on working for a living and he was using her for her money. But, you know, she filed for divorce after she caught him having an affair with a lady in the neighborhood. She said uh Diana stated that a fortune teller had told her that.

 And you know what? It was true. Wow. Now when it came to the racism during that time she had to face she she had to face a lot especially in the south and it was brutal too. They really couldn’t stay in hotels which were white owned. They would have to stay with black people in their homes like boarding houses.

 And look, if they would have to go to a restaurant and you know, they ask for a vanilla ice cream cone, right? The white owners of the of the restaurant will only give them chocolate and make them order their food in the back door. Now, if she was traveling and got lost or was low on gas, she would sleep in her car until the daylight hit because she didn’t want to face the KKK at that time.

 White and blacks couldn’t dance together at her shows. a rope would would separate them. But the good thing around that time was she started becoming businessminded though. She started becoming businessminded and she bought her mother a car. She bought her mother a house and she bought a apartment building in Chicago so black entertainers and family members would have a place to stay.

 She had learned how to invest in real estate from Mahalia Jackson. She learned all that from Mahalia Jackson. Now, in 1948, she released a song titled Am I’m Asking Too Much, which hit number one on the charts. And she also released a song called It’s Too Soon to Know, which hit number two on the charts. The following year in 1949, she released a song titled Baby Get Lost, which hit number one on the charts.

 And it was that song that really made her a certified star at that time. Now, as far as the trends that Donna has started, people who were close to her claimed that she was the one that had everybody wearing wigs. You know, Donna would wear a blonde wig from time to time. And they also say that she was the one that made women wear their hair short and having their hair straightened in process.

 H Diana would travel with so many clothes and shoes. They say she would have over 300 pair of shoes with her on the road. And look, she was wearing Gucci. She was wearing Gucci stuff way before when blacks didn’t even know what it was. And some white people didn’t even know what it was either. Wow.

 She was on a high class level when it came to fashion, the jewelry, you name it, she was on it. You know, growing up poor. She now could afford the finer things in life. But she still was choosing, she still was choosing them bad men, though. She like them rough. Diana like men rough and thugged out. That was her type. Now, around this time, she started dating a guy named Teddy Stewart, who was a drummer with her band.

 But that relationship didn’t last after they had a got into an argument and he punched her in the face and kicked her out of the car. But she look, she still showed up to her show that night wearing dark glasses to hide the bruises on her face. In October 1950, she married a man named Walter Buchanan who was a bass player and 9 years older than her.

 She had made him her band leader. But look, that relationship didn’t last. You know, she was tired of being physically abused. So on him, she pulled out a gun and that was the end of that relationship. And right after that, she started dating somebody else. Wow. Now, another thing she was dealing with was her weight.

 Around this time, when she had her last child, she had gained a bunch of weight and couldn’t lose it. Now, she was always on a diet and she didn’t like when Ebony magazine said she was plump. Plus, she started drinking a lot. She loved that Kgnac and she loved some wine. But around that time, she was the number one selling artist in the Negro market, as they call it back then, the Negro market.

 That’s why they call her the queen of the jukeboxes, because her songs were playing everywhere. Plus, you know, comedian Slappy White and Red Fox would open up shows for her, too. But, you know, she was she was a workaholic, though. She had a lot of bills to cover. So, she was overworking herself to the point that her throat started giving her trouble, but she wouldn’t stop singing to rest.

 You know, she wouldn’t stop. She wouldn’t stop even though doctors told her to rest. Now, in 1953, she started dating a drummer named Larry Rice. And they were supposed to get married, but when they went to the courthouse to tie the knot before the Justice of Peace, they arrived too late and the court was closed for the weekend.

 But she did publicly announced that they were married. In 1954, she released her debut album titled After Hours with Miss D. In 1955, she released her second album titled Dina Jams. That same year, she released her third album titled for Those in Love. And look, Quincy Jones did the musical arrangements on that album. Now, how she and Quincy Jones met.

 Now, see, at this time, Quincy Jones had worked with artists like Ray Charles, Dizzy Gypsy, Count Basy, Tommy Dorsy, and many more. But she had met Quincy who was 22 years old at that time at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. And she wanted him to do some arrangements for her, and they ended up working on 10 of her albums over the years.

 She’s the one that gave Quincy Jones his first job as a music arranger. Wow, that’s crazy. That was the start of his career as an arranger, y’all. But you know, Quincy and Donna became close friends to the point that Quincy said one time he seen her put all of her boyfriend’s clothes in the bathtub and she set them on fire.

She did that way before left eye, y’all. And you know, she and Quincy had little affairs every now and then, but they were never a couple. Quincy Jones also stated that Dina was the one that told him that a 12year-old little girl at that time named Artha Franklin would be the next big star in the music business after her. Wow.

And you know what? Diana was right about that one. Artha Franklin became big right after her. Now, she also became a mentor and godmother to R&B singer Patty Austin. Patty’s father, jazz trombonist Gordon Austin, was good friends with Dina. And you know what, Dina? She even brought Patty Austin on the stage to sing at the Apollo Theater when she was about 4 years old.

 That’s how Quincy Jones met Patty Austin, and he became her godfather. Now, in 1956, she released her fourth album titled Dina. That same year, she released her fifth album titled In the Land of High Five. But the following year in 1957 on New Year’s Eve, she ended up passing out on stage in front of the audience in Philly.

 Now, also that same year in 1957, she released her sixth album titled The Swinging Miss D, which was arranged by Quincy Jones. still standing that same year 1957 she released her seventh album titled Dina Washington’s sings fat swaller and by that time the people were calling her the queen of the blues because of the type of music she was making which was catered more to a black audience.

 She stated that around that time, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole were her favorite singers and she wanted to cross over like them, but black people already label her a blues and R&B artist. That was her market. Now, also that same year in 57, somebody tried to kill her. Somebody had tried to kill her by sending her a box of chocolate candy that had slivers of glass in it through the mail. Wow.

That’s crazy. There were rumors that uh it could have been a jealous girlfriend or a wife from one of the guys she was seeing at the time that had sent that box of chocolate candy to her. You know, Donna stay you know Donna man Donna stayed in some drama. Always fighting, being sued by some women that she threw glass at.

 They say sometimes men she dated, the men she dated would beat her up and she would try to hide the bruises and everything. But you want to know something? She also dealt with the mob around that time. She was good friends with mobster music mogul Morris Levy. Interesting. You know, she used to be at his club called Birdland, which was a popular jazz club in Manhattan, New York.

 Now, in 1958, she released Dina Sings Bessie Smith, which was one of her idols growing up, Bessie Smith. That same year, 1958, she released a live album titled Newport 58, which was recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in Newport, Rhode Island. And you know what? She also discovered singer, dancer, actress Lola Felana when she was 16 years old at a nightclub appearance in Philadelphia.

 A lot of people think Sammy Davis Jr. discovered her. Yeah, people think Lola Felana was discovered by Sammy Davis Jr., but it actually was Donna Washington. Now, still standing that same year in 1958, she married her fifth husband named Eddie Chamblan, who was a saxophone player, and Patty Austin was the flower girl at that wedding.

 Donna actually proposed to him, but you know, that relationship didn’t last either. It was over in only 14 months because he was an alcoholic who would drink a fifth agenda a day and didn’t want to listen to her. They would argue in front of the crowd while performing and everything. But you know, some that was close to her at that time said that Eddie Chamlan was good for her though.

 That husband Eddie Chamlin was good for her and he wouldn’t take any of her nonsense. Plus, he was her band leader that ran the show. problem was she just couldn’t control him. And the reason they really broke up is because he hit a wrong note while performing with her one time and she took his saxophone and threw it at the wall and it broke all into pieces and that was the last straw. Wow.

 Donna was wild, but I’m telling you. Now, in 1959, she released her 10th album titled What a Difference A Day Makes. And that single, What a Der a Day Makes, earned her her first top 10 pop hit, hitting number four on the R&B charts and hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Plus, it won a Grammy. It won the Grammy Award for best R&B performance at the second annual Grammy Awards held in November 1959. Wow.

 You know, I remember hearing that song in the classic gangster movie called Casino. What a difference a day makes. Now, also that same year in 1959, she met her husband named Rusty Miller at legendary heavyweight champion boxer Joe Lewis’s Brown Bomber Nightclub in Manhattan. Rusty Miller, now he was just a calf driver who was seven years younger than she was.

 and Morris Levy, music mogul, mobster Morris Levy, threw them a big wedding reception when they got back to the United States. You know, he had just started uh Roulette Records. Morris Levy just started Roulette Records. He was trying to get Dina to sign to his label. But that relationship with that little young cab driver, Rusty Mailard, that she had married only lasted a couple months before she decided to call it quits.

 And it actually wasn’t a real marriage anyway because she married him somewhere overseas in Sweden. That marriage was not officially recognized in the United States. But then right after that, she started dating a drama. You know, singer Patty Austin said Diana loved dating and marrying other women’s husbands and didn’t mind paying for their child support either. Wow.

 You know, Patty also said for Diana, it was a challenge for her to steal other women men and cause them to divorce or break up. She got a thrill out of that. Now, also that same year in 1959, her friend, the icon Billy Holiday, had passed away from heart failure caused by cerosis while handcuffed to her hospital bed. and her death when Billy died, it hurt Diana because they used to talk all the time.

 Now the following year in 1960, she and R&B singer Brooke Benton released a duet album called The Two of Us. And that song called Baby You Got What It Takes hit number one on the R&B charts and number five on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1961, she got married again. I done lost count, y’all. I don’t know what number this is.

 Which husband? I think this is husband number which one, six or number seven. But she married a guy named Raphael Campos who was a Dominican actor who had appeared in a movie called Black Boy Jungle with Sydney Portier. Now Raphael uh Campos, he was 13 years younger than Dina. Now the story on why she divorced him is crazy.

 Now the story goes during that time you know Dina was taking diet pills and the doctors was giving her injections to reduce fat because she was having issues with her weight. You know she was losing weight real fast which was not good. So, one night she had stripped down naked in a hotel room and her husband Raphael Campos ended up walking in a room and was shocked to see slabs of skin just hanging around her midsection.

Apparently, he had not seen Donna completely naked since her dramatic weight loss, but he saw all that extra skin hanging from her stomach, right? And guess what? He ended up having a seizure. Wow. He had an epileptic seizure. He fell on the floor and Donna was trying to keep him from swallowing his tongue.

 That’s crazy. And you know what? She divorced him because of the way he reacted to seeing her body. That’s crazy. Donna. Diana is wild, man. That’s why she divorced him. The way he reacted to her body. Now, also that same year, in 1961, Diana was arrested on charges of threatening her dress designer with a pistol over a $700 debt, and she was released on a $500 bail.

 They say uh Diana waved the gun in her face and threatened to blow her brains out. Wow. You know, they say uh she always kept a gun on her, too, and she was quick to pull it out on you. Donna won’t Donna ain’t play no games, man. They say one time she cleared a Los Angeles nightclub out after firing a gun at one of the Patriots. Wow.

And look, she was her own bodyguard, too, protecting her cash after shows and all of her jewelry she traveled with on the road. Now, another incident was with the cops in Philly. Like I said, she dealt with a lot of racism. And with this particular incident in Philly, she and her entire band were arrested for no reason.

 All because there was well-dressed black people driving in a new car. And look, the cops tried to say that her car was stolen, even though she showed them her license and registration to the car. And she she sued him. She sued him for that false arrest, too. Now also standing that stand in that same year in 1961 she had hired the legendary R&B group called the Dells to sing background for her and it was also around this time that she had made legendary R&B singer Eda James cry on stage.

 Now the story goes James said she had a show and she heard that her idol Dina Washington was coming to see her perform. So, you know, Eta thought that she would sing one of Dina’s songs to show her how much she appreciate her. Next thing you know, while singing her song, she saw Dina get mad and and Diana started breaking up glass and place off the table and was pointing at Eda screaming the B word.

Don’t you ever sing the queen song when the queen is right there in front of you. Eta said uh Eda James said she was so upset that she ran off stage crying so bad that no one could console her and that’s when Dina herself came back to her dressing room and apologized to her saying she lost it for a minute but she told EDA she learned a valuable lesson because if a star is around you don’t ever sing the stars songs ever. Wow.

 I told you Donna had a Donna had a temple on her, man. Donna was the type of person that would pick a fight with a waitress if she was pretty and getting a lot of attention, get her fired and then later on cry about it. Wow. But she did invite Eda James to her show after that and they became good friends after that.

Now, Dina also supported and loved the tap dancing kids called the Hines brothers, which was Gregory Hines and his brother Maurice Hines, who used to perform with their father as a trio. And she also looked out for R&B singer Little Esther Phillips. Donna was her idol, and she helped, look, Diana also helped singer Johnny Matis before he blew up, too.

 Donna helped out a lot of people by giving them a shot. Even though she could be mean, but she had a good heart. But see, Donna was a generous person though. She would help anybody. Homeless, she would help her friends out. Uh she would help a lot of people, but then the people would take advantage of her and do something bad like steal her money, her clothes, and take her TV, etc.

 Now, another person she was also good friends with was Martin Luther King because she loved what he was doing about the racism stuff that was going on and uniting people with the civil rights movement. You know, Diana stated that Martin Luther King Jr. had a message to end discrimination and she hoped she would see it fulfilled one day if she lives to see it.

 Now, also around that time, she ended up leaving Mercury Records after spending 15 years on the label and she signed with the mobster music mogul Morris Levy record company called Roulette Records. He finally got her to sign to his label. And by this time, the music industry was changing though and you know, her sales started going down.

 The club scene was changing. She wasn’t in demand like that anymore. And that’s when her money started to get low. And she would borrow from all her friends in the industry because they knew that she had helped them out in the past when they was hurting. But by this time, she was depressed and out of control. She would miss performances, get into altercations with people in the crowd.

 Plus, she started losing her voice a lot because all all that prescription drugs she was taking at that time. Now, on July 2nd, 1963, she ended up marrying a guy named Dick Lane, who was a defensive halfback for the NFL team Detroit Lions. His nickname was Night Train. And he was apparently husband number seven or eight for her.

And at their wedding, basketball hall of famer Will Chamberlain was the best man. Now, it’s crazy how they met. Dick Lane said he had met Diana Washington a couple times before in passing, but one time they were at a party and he told her that she shouldn’t be so bossy and using file language all the time.

 And if she was his woman, he would put half of his fist down her throat for talking like that. But you know, he was joking with her when he told her all that, right? Next thing you know, Dina threw her drink in his face. But she was attracted to the way he talked to her though. And they they hooked up, started dating, and they got married.

 Now, see, he now see he was a little different. Dick Lane was different because from all those other guys, he had money. He didn’t need her money. And you know, she moved into his house. He had his life together. and she helped him with franchising his restaurants, but she started to suspect that he was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend.

But that same year, on December 14th, 1963, Dina Washington was found dead by her husband Dick Lane from an overdose of sleeping pills and alcohol. Now, the story goes, now see, since a few years before, Donna was dealing with the, you know, her health issues and she was working like crazy.

 I’m talking about doing shows three, four, sometimes five nights a week at venues all around the country. Then, like I’ve been saying earlier, her weight was really a problem. and she tried to eat healthy, but being on the road so much, she she just couldn’t eat in a good restaurant because, you know, blacks weren’t allowed because of the racism.

 Now, she could eat all the soul food she wanted, but let’s face it, a lot of that food is just not good for us, y’all. And that’s when she went to the doctor and got prescription pills for everything. A lot of people thought she was hooked on drugs from off the streets, but it wasn’t the drugs off the streets. She was hooked on prescription pills.

 If she wanted to have some extra energy, she started taking pills that would boost her energy. She had been taking diet pills because of her weight. She was taking pills for her insomnia. On top of that, all all of that, she was a heavy drinker. She would take pills for when she had sex. Pills, pills, pills. And look, she already collapsed four times a year before and had to be rushed to the hospital.

 But anyway, so look, on that day she died, which was after midnight, she had taken all her pills that I had mentioned earlier, and she and her husband fell asleep watching TV. And by the early morning, her husband, Dick Lane, found her slumped over in the front of the television, and when he tried to move her, he heard her take her last breath.

So instead of calling 911 right away, he called her doctor and told him that he couldn’t wake Dina up. And the doctor rushed over there to their home and he tried to give her a shot to revive her, but that didn’t help. And that’s when the doctor said that she’s dead. That’s when they called 911 and the paramedics arrived, pumped her stomach, and paramedics pumped her stomach, but Diana was already gone, y’all.

Apparently, her heart stopped pumping. Now, the police said Diana Washington might have accidentally taken an overdose of a sedative because they found a box of orange and blue pills beside her bed. And later a autopsy revealed that a combination of sacco barbital and ammo barbital contributed to her death which was ruled an accidental overdose.

Basically she died of an accidental overdose of diet pills and alcohol. Now, at her funeral, Artha Franklin’s father, CL Franklin, did the service, and she was buried in a white mink coat, yellow dress, rhinestone studded shoes, and a tiarara with a Cadillac procession stretching 24 city blocks.

 Wow, that’s crazy. They say uh over 30,000 people came to the service to see her. Man, that’s a lot of people. A bunch of her friends, celebrities were all there and and look, they say all of her ex-husbands was there, too. Wow. Now, comedians Red Fox, Slappy White, Dick Gregory, and her backup singers were the Pawbearers.

After her death the following year in 1964, Artha Franklin released her fifth album titled Unforgettable, a tribute to Dina Washington. In 1986, Dina was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1993, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1998, her song titled What a Difference A Day Made was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

Her song titled Teach Me Tonight was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2001, her version of the Nat King Cole hit song Unforgettable was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2005, the board of commissioners renamed the park near where Donna had lived in Chicago in the 1950s. They named it Dina Washington Park in her honor.

 In 2008, the city of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where she was born, renamed the section of 30th Avenue between 15th Street and Colton Park Dina Washington Avenue. In 2021, the Queen of Hip Hop and R&B soul, Mary J. Blige, made an appearance as Dina Washington in the Artha Franklin biopic title, Respect, starring Jennifer Hudson.

 You know, there are um a couple books about her life that you could purchase too to get the full story on uh Donna Washington’s full life. And there is an official documentary on YouTube titled Evil Gal Blues. And you know, I heard that a movie about her life is in the works. Yeah, a movie is coming about her.

 And I heard uh Danny Glover is supposed to be executive producing it. Producer Angie Lee Cobb stated that it’s taken 23 years to bring her story to life after securing the life rights from the Dina Washington estate. Now, me personally, I hope they cast Mary J. Blige to play her again because she did a good job playing her in the Franklin movie with Jennifer Hudson, even though it was a little small part, but I think Mary J. Blah can pull it off.

 Now, can she sing the blues like Donna Washington? I don’t know. But she definitely her and her her and Dina BJ blah and Dina kind of got the same I don’t know the whole life thing you know the men and the drugs and stuff like that but Donna Washington was something else y’all. Diana Washington was something else but she lived her life the way she wanted to.

 I think what really gets me is the fact that she was just so young when she passed. She was only 39 years old. 39 years old. Wow. Rest in peace, the queen of the blues, Dina Washington.