Aletra Hampton

Clarke Hampton was born in Batavia, Ohio, to William and Elizabeth Hampton in 1877, and studied music and art while attending a military academy in Xenia, Ohio.

He married Laura Burford, a native of Richmond, Virginia, in 1908.

Both of Hampton's parents played musical instruments.

Her father taught himself to play saxophone and drums; her mother played piano.

Three of Hampton's eleven siblings died young, but her eight surviving siblings included three sisters (Carmalita, Virtue, and Dawn) and five brothers (Clarke Jr. "Duke," Marcus, Russell "Lucky," Maceo, and Locksley "Slide").

Their parents taught each of the Hampton siblings to play at least one musical instrument.

Aletra had no formal musical training, but learned to play the pianos and also sang.

Under the leadership of their father, the children began performing in the family's band at a young age.

Aletra Hampton (October 8, 1915 – November 12, 2007) was an American jazz pianist and singer, best known for her performances during the 1940s and 1950s as a member of the Hampton family band and The Hampton Sisters, a quartet she formed during World War II with her siblings, Carmalita, Virtue and Dawn.

Aletra Hampton was born on October 8, 1915, in Middletown, Ohio.

She was the oldest of Laura (Burford) and Clarke "Deacon" Hampton's twelve children.

The Middletown, Ohio, native began performing at a young age and moved with her family to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1938.

The Hamptons moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1938, when Aletra was in her early twenties.

Hampton married and had two children, but the marriage ended in divorce after fourteen years.

In 1938, after the family's unsuccessful trip to California to find work in the Hollywood film industry, the Hamptons relocated to Indianapolis, Indiana, where the family band performed in local clubs and continued to tour.

During World War II the family band took a temporary break, but Hampton and her sisters (Virtue, Carmalita, and Dawn) formed a short-lived quartet called The Hamptonians and later performed as the Hampton Sisters.

Hampton and her eight siblings performed in the 1940s and 1950s in Duke Hampton's band, their oldest brother's jazz orchestra.

The group became well known as the house band at nightclubs in Indianapolis and Cincinnati, Ohio, and toured the United States playing at venues that included New York City's Carnegie Hall and Harlem's Apollo Theater and the Savoy Ballroom.

When their father retired in 1945 and their oldest brother, Duke, took over as leader of the family band, the sisters joined his fourteen-piece jazz orchestra.

In addition to the nine surviving Hampton siblings, the group included several well-known Indiana Avenue musicians, such as Alonzo "Pookie" Johnson and Bill Penick on saxophone, trombonist/bass player Eugene Fowlkes, and drummers Sonny Johnson, Dick Dickerson, and Thomas Whitted.

Aletra Hampton was known as the "Warrior" among the group's musicians and had a subtle sense of humor.

The family's band dissolved in the 1950s, but Hampton and two of her sisters, Virtue and Carmalita, continued to perform as the Hampton Sisters for several more years.

When the family band dissolved in the 1950s, Aletra, Carmalita, and Virtue Hampton established themselves as a trio and performed as the Hamptons Sisters for several more years.

Hampton's youngest sister, Dawn Hampton, moved to New York City in 1958 and became a cabaret singer and swing dancer.

The trio reunited in Indianapolis in 1981 after almost a twenty-year hiatus.

The three women reunited in 1981 after a nearly twenty-year hiatus.

Hampton and her siblings received Indiana's Governor Arts Award (1991) for their contributions to the state's musical heritage.

In addition, Hampton was inducted into the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation's Hall of Fame (1999); received an honorary doctorate of music degree from the University of Indianapolis (2004); and was a recipient of NUVO newspaper's Cultural Vision Lifetime Achievement Award (2006).

The Indiana Historical Society released The Hampton Sisters, A Jazz Tribute (2003), a compact disc featuring Aletra and Virtue Hampton.

Close members of Hampton's musical family include her brother, "Slide" Hampton, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master; her sister, Dawn, a well-known New York City cabaret singer and swing dancer; and her nephew, Pharez Whitted, a jazz trumpeter.

"Slide" Hampton, their youngest brother, is a jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger, as well as a two-time Grammy Award-winner and a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Award (2005).

Some sources report that Hampton is also a distant cousin of Lionel Hampton.

Hampton began her long career as a musical performer at a young age.

During World War II she formed a quartet with her sisters that eventually became known as the Hamptons Sisters.

The women also performed with the Duke Hampton band, their oldest brother's jazz orchestra.

Hampton and her sister, Virtue, continued to perform as a duo, mostly in Indianapolis, until 2006.

Aletra and Virtue Hampton continued to perform as a jazz duo until 2006.

The family's band was initially named Deacon Hampton's Pickaninny Band, but due to the negative racial connotations, it was renamed Deacon Hampton's Family Band (also known as Deacon Hampton and His Band, or Deacon Hampton and the Cotton Pickers).

The family traveled the Midwest and the East performing at fairs, carnivals, tent shows, and private parties.

In addition to dancing and presenting comedy skits, the band performed a variety of musical genres, including country, swing, rhythm and blues, polka, and jazz.