About Sathima Bea Benjamin
Beatrice "Sathima Bea" Benjamin was a South African vocalist and composer based in New York City for nearly 45 years. As an adolescent, Benjamin first performed popular music in talent contests at the local cinema (bioscope) during the intermission. She built her repertoire watching British and American movies and transcribing lyrics from songs heard on the radio, where she discovered Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald. Following this encounter, Ellington arranged for the couple to fly to Paris and record separate albums for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label, for whom Ellington functioned as Artists and Repertoire representative.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.