Lucia Hawkins: the Songbird of Vicksburg

VICKSBURG, Miss. by Even Winschel (VDN) — Imagine gazing out from center stage at Madison Square Garden or feeling the electricity of performing at Radio City Music Hall. Imagine being illuminated by the set lights of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show or the standing ovation erupting from Carnegie Hall. Imagine performing for not one, not two, but three presidents. Seems too good to be true, right? Not the case for today’s featured highlight, Lucia Hawkins Brown (known professionally as Lucia Hawkins).

With a life composed of meteoric highs and fathomless lows, our Lucia lived a life that was anything but ordinary. Born in 1922 to an unwed and deaf mother, Lucia was taken in and raised by her grandmother until she passed when Lucia was 15. Now on her own, Lucia searched for her mother, eventually tracking her down to a cotton field in Shaw, Miss. During this time, she also traveled to Clarksdale, Mississippi, to seek out the man she suspected of being her father. It was here that opportunity would present itself on the blues-filled streets of downtown.

One fateful night, Lucia made the acquaintance of a dancer from New York and her sax-playing husband. So taken with Lucia, the lady offered her a place to stay in the Big Apple with the assurance that she would do well there. With an ambition that couldn’t be contained to small-town life, Lucia packed her bags and made her way up north.

While the city, with its impossibly tall buildings and bustling streets, reeked of glamour, Lucia’s start in the big city was anything but glamorous. Almost immediately upon her arrival, she secured a job at a ceramic factory and later as a dishwasher at a delicatessen while studying for a nursing degree. As she once said, “Nothing will drop through the ceiling for you, it takes work and sacrifice.”

Soon a chance encounter would see Lucia hang up her apron and put a pause on her studies. Blessed at birth with the gift of song, she caught the attention of Donald Hayward, a famous studio owner and Broadway producer. Convinced of her promise as a future performer, he began offering her lessons to refine her ability for $15 a week. She eventually sought out the tutelage of Packer Ramsey after hearing one of his pupils sing with a voice that “fired me up to develop my own voice.”

Under his guidance, she excelled in her first audition for an Off-Broadway opera, Carmen Jones. Her natural ability would soon result in the recommendation to a well-known voice coach, Lola Hayes. While Lola honed her talent, the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm sharpened her appeal. This was the very same institution that worked with the legendary Cicely Tyson. “It was then that my life began to take a definite direction.”

“One of these mornings, you’re goin’ to rise up singin’
And you’ll spread your wings and you’ll take the sky.”

-Summertime from the musical Porgy and Bess

Armed with a “superb soprano voice” of remarkable range, her first big break came when she was chosen to replace one of the cast members of the Porgy & Bess Trio. For the following 10 years, she would share her talents worldwide on everything from renowned stages to luxury cruises to televised productions. She even performed at President Kennedy’s 45th birthday celebration—you know, the one where Marilyn Monroe seductively sang “Happy Birthday.” One can’t imagine our Lucia was too intimidated by her vocal prowess.

Her incredible talent led to her becoming the first African American invited to perform with the Miami Symphony Orchestra, where she received a standing ovation. For years, she continued to circumnavigate the globe from the West Indies to Saudi Arabia. All the while, her husband Clarence Brown, whom she married in 1955, remained at his post as a police officer in New York.

In 1973, tragedy would put a tarnish on her glimmering life when her husband, in an attempt to break up a drunken scuffle, was shot by one of the intoxicated participants. To add insult to injury, as he was off duty at the time of his murder, Lucia was denied the benefit of his death pension. To quote Fried Green Tomatoes, “A heart can be broken, but it keeps beating just the same.” In the midst of her grief, Lucia would also experience one of the greatest honors of her career—performing at arguably the best-known venue in the world, Carnegie Hall.

The following year, Lucia returned to Vicksburg to care for her ailing aunt. With not much opportunity for a renowned opera singer in town, Lucia completed her nursing degree and began a second career at Mercy Home Health Services. Never turning her back on her talents completely, Lucia continued to train via tape recordings with Lola and performed at local concerts, funerals, and weddings.

Her choice to leave behind the bright lights and beautiful gowns for a nursing uniform was met with some condescension from members of the community. Remarking, “People started turning their backs on me and started to lose interest in my performances as soon as I put on that uniform.” Silencing anyone on the subject, she concluded, “I get as much satisfaction out of making those sick people happy by getting them back on their feet as I did by keeping a concert crowd on the edge of their seats.”

Lucia Hawkins, the Songbird of Vicksburg, passed away in 2023.

Cedar Hill Cemetery Association was formed in 2024 with the goal of assisting the City of Vicksburg in restoration and beautification of our historic Cedar Hill Cemetery. The Association will be presenting its inaugural tour event “Voices from the Hills” on October 16, 17, and 18, 2025 as part of Vicksburg’s Bicentennial Celebrations. For more information or to get involved, contact chcassociation@yahoo.com or visit their Facebook page.