Known by nicknames like Sassy and Sailor, Vaughan was a jazz singer who was the recipient of the NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989 for her exceptional contributions to American music.
She played at Newark night clubs as the Pianist even though she was underaged.
She won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female.
She married four times: first to George Treadwell in 1947, then to Clyde Atkins in 1958, then to Marshall Fisher in 1971, and finally to Waymon Reed in 1978.
In 1943, she opened concerts for Ella Fitzgerald.
