Legends
Remembering Nell Carter’s recording with Parker High School
Legendary entertainer Nell Carter was born Nell Ruth Hardy in Birmingham, Alabama in 1948. After performing at church and on local radio, then graduating from A.H. Parker High School, she moved to New York City to pursue better opportunities. In an interview with the Associated Press, she said, “When I was growing up, it was not something you aspired to,” she said in 1988. “I was a weirdo to want to be in show business. Most kids wanted to be teachers or nurses.”
Carter returned to Birmingham to record Take Me Home with the A.H. Parker High School Choir and the Birmingham Heritage Band to benefit her alma mater in 1983.
The Sound of Birmingham recorded project’s tracklist included jazz, R&B, and gospel:
- A1 Tracks Of My Tears 4:08
- A2 Never Been So Glad 3:39
- A3 Keep This Heart In Mind 3:00
- A4 Send Me You 3:44
- A5 I Can Let Go Now 4:03
- B1 Amazing Grace 5:36
- B2 His Eye Is On The Sparrow 5:22
- B3 No Woman, No Cry 3:23
- B4 Stormy Weather / Since I Fell For You 3:02
- B5 Take It Home
Before recording, The Broadway play Ain’t Misbehavin’ ran for four years and brought great acclaim, earning her a Tony Award for her performance. Carter won an Emmy Award for her performance on the televised version of the play, then earned two more Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe nods during her six seasons on the NBC sitcom Gimme A Break! She suffered from diabetes and a brain aneurysm in the 1990s but passed away at age 54 in 2003.
