Ketty Lester

Ketty Lester, born Revoyda Frierson on 16 August 1934 in Hope, Arkansas, is an American soul singer and actor. Raised as one of fifteen children in a sharecropping family, she developed her vocal talents through church and school choirs. After high school, she was awarded a scholarship to study music at the City College of San Francisco. During her studies, she began performing professionally under the name Ketty Lester at The Purple Onion nightclub. Her breakthrough came in 1962 with the release of "Love Letters" on Era Records, which peaked at number five on the charts and remained there for fourteen weeks. She was signed to RCA Records and released several notable singles, including "But Not For Me", "You Can't Lie To A Liar", and a cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". In 1962, she was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance for her work on "Love Letters", but lost to Ella Fitzgerald. She also collaborated with the Everly Brothers on a tour in 1962 and released several albums, including Where Is Love (1965) and When A Woman Loves A Man (1966). Her acting career included roles in films such as the first blaxploitation horror Blacula (1972) and television series like La Petite Maison dans la prairie, where she played Hester-Sue Terhune from 1978 to 1983.