Voting Station

Linda Hopkins

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Vocalist

The Resume

    (December 4, 1924-April 10, 2017)
    Born in New Orleans, Louisiana
    Birth name was Melinda Helen Matthews
    Blues, soul and gospel singer and actress
    Appeared on Broadway in ‘Purlie’ (1970-71), ‘Inner City’ (1971-72), ‘Me and Bessie’ (1975) and ‘Black and Blue’ (1989-91)
    Toured in the musical revue ‘Wild Woman Blues’ (1997-2005)
    Recorded the albums ‘Linda Hopkins’ (1972), ‘Me and Bessie’ (1976), ‘Here’s the Kid’ (1994) and ‘The Living Legend Live’ (2006)
    Appeared in ‘Roots: The Next Generation’ (1979), ‘Disorderlies’ (1988) and ‘Leprechaun 2’ (1994)

Why she might be annoying:

    She began touring with the Southern Harp Spiritual Singers at age twelve.
    She had no hits on the pop charts and only one on the R&B charts, a duet with Jackie Wilson on the song ‘Shake a Hand.’
    She kept the nickname ‘Kid’ into senior citizenhood.

Why she might not be annoying:

    Her father, a Baptist deacon, died just before her birth.
    She was discovered by gospel legend Mahalia Jackson.
    She won a Tony and a Drama Desk Award for her performance in ‘Inner City.’
    She co-wrote her one-woman show about Bessie Smith, ‘Me and Bessie.’
    She performed at the inaugural ball of Jimmy Carter.
    When two youths grabbed her purse in a Los Angeles park, she used some moves she had learned from a pro wrestler to beat up one of the muggers.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 69.23% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 68 Votes: 41.18% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 14 Votes: 57.14% Annoying