Aida Ward

{{Short description|American jazz musician (1900–1984)}}

Aida Ward (February 11, 1900 – June 23, 1984{{cite book|last1=Salamone|first1=Frank|last2=Wintz|first2=Cary|title=Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance: K-Y|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgIYlUbaoAoC|year=2004|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=1234–5|isbn=9781579584580|access-date=February 3, 2015}}) was an American jazz singer. Born in Washington, D.C., Ward rose to fame in the 1920s and 1930s in New York, on Broadway and at Harlem's Cotton Club.{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Jessica Carney|last2=Phelps|first2=Shirelle|title=Notable Black American Women, Book 2|date=1996|publisher=Gale Research|location=Detroit|isbn=0810391775|pages=674–675|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ssMBzqrUpjwC|issue=bk. 2|access-date=February 3, 2015}} She appeared alongside Adelaide Hall and Bill "Bojangles" Robinson in the hit Broadway musical revue Blackbirds of 1928.{{Cite web|url=http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Whos_who/6579/51298/Blackbirds-of-1928 |title=Inside the Playbill: Blackbirds of 1928 - May 1928 at Liberty Theatre |date=2012 |access-date=February 3, 2015 |website=Playbill Vault |publisher=Playbill, Inc. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203235903/http://www.playbillvault.com/Show/Detail/Whos_who/6579/51298/Blackbirds-of-1928 |archive-date=February 3, 2015 }}

Throughout the 1930s, Ward appeared regularly at the Cotton Club, performing with Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway.{{Cite news|url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19840626&id=YcciAAAAIBAJ&pg=4898,117546|title = Obituaries: Aida Ward, Club Singer|date = June 26, 1984|work = Sarasota Herald-Tribune}} She was associated with the introduction of the songs "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"{{cite book|last=Jablonski|first=Edward|title=Harold Arlen: Rhythm, Rainbows, and Blues|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsgCHeS69q8C|year=1996|publisher=Northeastern University Press|page=365|isbn=9781555533663|access-date=February 3, 2015}} and "I've Got the World on a String"{{cite book|last=Jasen|first=David|title=Tin Pan Alley: An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7l-TAgAAQBAJ|year=2003|publisher=Routledge|page=11|isbn=9781135949013|access-date=February 3, 2015}} at the Cotton Club in 1931-2. She also starred at Harlem's Apollo Theater.