Arabella Fields, was an Afro American singer. She moved to Europe sometime around 1894 and is thought to be the first black-American artist to record in Europe, making recordings of songs by Stephen Foster. She spoke fluent German and was successful with German audiences singing lieder and yodeling.
Early life
According to her US passports, Arabella Fields was born in Philadelphia. However no early records on her life before arriving in Europe have surfaced. During her early years in Europe, she was advertised as Isabella Middleton, which seems to have been her birth name. The 1894 and 1902 passports of James Fields, mentions Bella Fields as his wife.
Career
Early career (1894–1905)
In the summer of 1894, 34-year old baritone singer, James C. Fields and his 15-year old wife, Isabella 'Bella' Middleton joined a vaudeville troupe organized by R.A. Cunningham heading for Europe. The 'San Francisco Minstrels', composed of four women and four men, opened in Berlin at the Charlotteburg Flora cabaret on August 30, 1894. After a three-month German tour, the troupe traveled across Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland before arriving in the Russian Empire in late-1895 to embark on a Siberian tour. After the troupe fell apart during the fall of 1897, James Fields and his wife formed the 'James and Bella' duo before James formed the 'American Jubilee Troubadours' in 1900 after the couple relocated to the Netherlands. During her time with this troupe, Dutch newspapers began advertising her as the 'Black Nightingale'. In July 1902, after the second troupe fell apart, James and Bella traveled to Berlin where Bella promptly left her husband and began working in theaters and cabarets around the German capital.
Black Nightingale (1906–1913)
By the summer of 1906, Arabella began touring across Germany with her new manager/husband pianist, Engelhardt Albert G. Winter. From the beginning of her relationship with Engelhardt, Arabella began extensive non-stop tours across Germany until the outbreak of World War I. During the tour, Arabella introduced to European audiences her ability to sing traditional Lieder songs in fluent German, besides her Red Indian dances. Her first major German tour concluded successfully in the winter of 1907, when Arabella returned to Berlin to record five songs with Anker Phonogramm Records at a studio on the Ritterstrasse. She may have also appeared in two films that same year. Her following 1908-14 tour which lasted nearly seven years opened in Italy and made its way across Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Romania and Turkey.
Arabella was appearing in Hamburg two months before the outbreak of World War I. By 1915, she began performing primarily in Wiesbaden, where she possibly may have established a residence. She also began making frequent trips to the neutral Netherlands. The following year, she began the first of several Dutch tours but also returned to Wiesbaden to appear at the Vergnügungspalast. As the war progressed, in February 1916 Arabella and her husband established a residence in Amsterdam and continued touring the Netherlands until early 1920. The couple may have returned to the new Germany republic in 1920, but the numerous street revolts and inflation caused the couple to leave, quietly touring Austria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia until 1924.
Back in Germany, early 1925, Arabella was hired by bandleader Sam Wooding to join his Chocolate Kiddiesrevue. The famous revue performed the latest Jazz numbers and introduced the Charleston across Germany, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, France, Spain and the Soviet Union before dissolving June 1926. Back in Berlin, Arabella was hired by dancer, Louis Douglas to be a part of his 'Black Follies' revue which toured the European continent until it fell apart in Poland sometime in April 1928. Early 1929, while Arabella quietly toured the Netherlands for five months, Louis Douglas hired her for his 'Louisiana' revue. Not only did the show obtain huge success in Europe, but also in Egypt and Syria. After nearly two and a half years of touring, Arabella quit the revue to film Rex Ingram's Baroudon location in Nice and Marrakech before her sudden disappearance early 1932.
