Carole Denise Fredericks (June 5, 1952 – June 7, 2001) was an American singer best known for her work in French music. She was the younger sister of Taj Mahal.
Between 1990 and 1996 she was in the trio Fredericks Goldman Jones alongside singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman and Welsh–French singer-guitarist Michael Jones.
Carole Denise Fredericks was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, on June 5, 1952, the youngest of Mildred and Harry Fredericks' five children. She and her siblings were raised in Springfield and were educated in the public school system. Her mother who was originally from Bennettsville, South Carolina, sang with Big Bands and on Sundays was the lead singer for a local gospel choir. Her father, the son of immigrants from the island of Saint Kitts, was a pianist and wrote arrangements for jazz trios. Growing up in her household, Fredericks was exposed to music from around the world. Her parents encouraged creative expression in all their children. Fredericks' brothers and sister developed careers in art, music, dance and theatre. Her eldest brother is Grammy-winning blues musician, Taj Mahal.
Her parents, who came of age during the Harlem Renaissance, instilled in their children a sense of pride in their West Indian and African ancestry through their stories. Fredericks never got to know her father. When she was two years old, he was killed in a construction accident, crushed by a tractor when it flipped over. Although her mother would remarry later, the loss of her father left Fredericks with grief that remained with her the rest of her life.
By the time she was 20, Fredericks was living in Oakland, California. A year after her graduation from Classical High School, she persuaded Taj Mahal to send for her. Upon her arrival in San Francisco, He put Fredericks to work as a background vocalist on a number of his albums – Mo' Roots; Music Fuh Ya'; Together; and Evolution. To supplement the income from session work, Carole was employed as a receptionist for the Pacific Personnel Services. She was one of 71 voices in the New Generation Singers Gospel Choir (Oakland, California) and performed with Odetta in the stage play Look What A Wonder. Fredericks organized a trio – piano, bass and voice – and booked singing engagements on the weekends.
In an interview from OH LA! Magazine she said: "I was part of a choir for three years and I was doing backup work. It was not enough to sustain a comfortable lifestyle and I started to get sick and tired of this life. I refused to get by on my brother's name. During this period, I was working in San Francisco at a French restaurant, La Belle Helene. Some of the patrons would often suggest that I go to France. They said I would do very well there. They were very convincing and without knowing a bit of French, I left it all. I bought a one-way ticket and I was off to Paris. Everyone thought I was crazy."
Fredericks arrived in France to pursue a singing career in January 1979. Fredericks met the owner of La Belle Helene at the airport.
"He called his friends and I found myself working almost immediately. I started to sing everywhere. It was barely three weeks after my arrival that I was signed with Carla Music to record a disco album entitled Black Orchid."
One of the songwriters for Black Orchid was another American singer, Ann Calvert. Through Calvert, Fredericks met Baltimore native Yvonne Jones. Together they formed a trio of background vocalists that were in demand by leading recording artists – Dalida, Johnny Hallyday, Hugues Aufray, Carlos and Sylvie Vartan.
Fredericks was determined to learn French as quickly as possible. As her knowledge improved, engagements extended from the studio to the stage. By 1985, Fredericks had established herself as a singer and performed in concerts with Laurent Voulzy, Michel Berger, France Gall and Eddy Mitchell. In 1981 she was a backing singer for Jean-Claude Pascal on the Luxembourg entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, tying for eleventh place.
In 1985, Fredericks was featured in the Gilbert Bécaud spectacular. Later that year, she toured Scandinavia with Mireille Mathieu. She was cast in Je vous aime by Claude Berri and in Roman Polanski's Pirates opposite Walter Matthau. Other film roles followed.
Fredericks' knowledge of the French language greatly contributed to her success. By now, Fredericks was singing with leading Francophone artists – Johnny Hallyday, Mylène Farmer, François Feldman, Patricia Kaas, Julien Clerc, and Liane Foly.
Her reputation brought her name to the attention of Jean-Jacques Goldman.
"[Carole] arrived in France in 1979. Shortly afterwards she launched a career as a studio musician – i.e. one of those people with extraordinary technical skills who put her talent at the service of other singers. In the course of her career Carole provided backing vocals for a lot of different singers and that is how I came to meet her myself" ... Jean-Jacques Goldman.
Carole's good fortune resulted in a telephone call from Jean-Jacques, asking her to sing on his next album and tour with him.
"That was a turning point for my life. He had seen me shine in my little corner; he allowed me to take center stage," said Carole. Jean-Jacques and Carole collaborated on a number of significant film soundtracks and albums projects.
In September 1987, Carole went into the studio with Jean-Jacques Goldman to record background vocals on his album Entre gris clair et gris foncé. She then toured with him for a year, August 1988 to August 1989.
Jean-Jacques asked Carole to record Brother, the theme song for the film L'UNION SACRÉE by Alexandre Arcady in 1989. In between projects with Jean-Jacques, Carole continued to go out on tour this time with Mylène Farmer and she was in the studio working on albums for Vanessa Paradis and Véronique Sanson.