About This Stamp
The Postal Service honored five American music legends with the issuance of the Popular Singers commemorative stamps on September 1, 1994, in New York at Damrosch Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The stamps feature Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Ethel Waters, Nat "King" Cole, and Ethel Merman.
The Popular Singers stamps were an addition to the Postal Service's Legends of American Music stamp series. The series began in 1993 and ran for several years, featuring all generations of American music including jazz, blues, folk, classical, and gospel.
Ethel Waters (1896–1977) began her professional career performing vaudeville and blues and is believed to have performed in the same vaudeville circuit as blues greats "Ma" Rainey and Bessie Smith. Waters starred in many Broadway hits, including "Africana" (1927), "Blackbirds" (1930), and "As Thousands Cheer" (1933). In 1950 she won the Drama Critics' Circle Award for her performance in "Member of the Wedding."
Designed by Chris Payne of Cincinnati, Ohio, the 29-cent stamps in panes of 20 were produced in the photogravure process by Stamp Venturers, Inc.