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Dianaruthe Wharton

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Dianaruthe Wharton
Born (1951-05-07) May 7, 1951 (age 73)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Alma materHoward University
Occupations
  • Composer
  • pianist
  • singer
Years active1976–present
AwardsGuggenheim Fellowship (1990)
Musical career
GenresBlack music
Instruments
  • Piano
  • vocals
LabelsA.E.L.O. Music Group
Formerly ofSweet Honey in the Rock

Dianaruthe Wharton (born May 7, 1951) is an American musician. A 1990 Guggenheim Fellow, she was pianist for Sweet Honey in the Rock and released the album African Pop from the New World.

Biography

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Dianaruthe Wharton was born in Baltimore on May 7, 1951.[1] She started learning classical piano during her childhood,[2] and she obtained her BM from Howard University in 1975.[1]

While studying at Howard, Wharton performed piano as one of the founding members of Sweet Honey in the Rock, particularly their 1976 album of the same name.[3] She also worked at RCA Records as an editor and proofreader.[1] In 1978, she moved to New York and left Sweet Honey in the Rock,[1][3] working as performer and musical director of Hospital Audiences, Inc. from 1978 until 1985.[1] She also worked as an adjunct lecturer in voice and piano at LaGuardia Community College (1980-1981),[1] and she studied music for a brief time in Senegal.[4]

After working as an understudy's musical director for the Broadway production of The Wiz,[2] Wharton worked as composer for For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1976).[5] In 1983, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Jazz Composers,[6] which she then used for her work Fulani Me.[2] She was composer and lyricist for Patricia J. Gibson's Ain't Love Grand? (1984); Paul D. Colford of Newsday said that her "lyrics ride her soaring harmonies and feeling rhythms".[7] Mike Joyce of The Washington Post said that her 1989 Baird Auditorium concert, where she was pianist and vocalist, "bore witness to the inspiration she draws from the music, dance and culture of her ancestral home, Africa".[8]

In 1990,[9] Wharton was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition.[1] As part of her work with the Fellowship, she and her family spent time in Senegal.[2] At the inspiration of another musical group named AELO, she released her debut album[4] African Pop from the New World; Wharton explained that it is "no one but me and the engineer".[2] In 2015, she was composer for Mai Sennaar's play The Fall of the Kings.[10]

Wharton worked for the Howard County Public School System as a music teacher.[11] She also co-founded Piano for Youth, an organization teaching piano to Maryland students.[11]

Wharton and her husband have two children,[2] including playwright Mai Sennaar.[12] In 1991, she lived in the western area of Baltimore.[4]

Discography

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  • African Pop from the New World (from A.E.L.O. Music Group)[13]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Reports of the President and of the Treasurer. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. 1991. p. 119.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Galloway, Barbara (March 1, 1992). "'Think music with beat' is beyond categorization". The Akron Beacon Journal Sun. pp. B1, B6 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Maillard, Carol (2000). "Sweet Honey in the Rock: Her-story". Continuum: The First Songbook of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Hal Leonard. pp. viii.
  4. ^ a b c Corey, Mary (April 5, 1984). "Sunday Snapshots love". The Baltimore Sun. p. 1H – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "On Location". Oakland Post (1968-1981). July 16, 1978. p. 8. ProQuest 371727056 – via ProQuest.
  6. ^ Annual Report 1983 (PDF) (Report). National Endowment for the Arts. p. 198.
  7. ^ Colford, Paul D. (April 5, 1984). "A musical drama on the pains of love". Newsday. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Joyce, Mike. "Wharton's Tribute to the African Muses". The Washington Post. p. C05. ProQuest 307203388 – via ProQuest.
  9. ^ "Dianaruthe Wharton". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved February 1, 2025.
  10. ^ "THEATER: "Fall of The Kings" by Mai Sennaar Opens Tonight at Historic Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx". Good Black News. September 5, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  11. ^ a b "Baltimore Musician Makes Magic with Music Mentees". AFRO-American. May 7, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  12. ^ Cornish, Stephanie (September 10, 2015). "Baltimore Native Brings Play to New York City Stage". AFRO-American. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
  13. ^ "Dianaruthe Wharton: African Pop From The New World: CD". Mint Underground. Retrieved February 3, 2025.
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