Hunter's first act was in an upstairs room, far from the main event; thus, she began developing as an artist in front of a cabaret crowd.

Her persistence paid off, and Hunter began a climb from some of the city's lowest dives to a headlining job at its most prestigious venue for black entertainers, the Dreamland ballroom.

Hunter recorded prolifically during the 1920s, starting with sessions for Black Swan in 1921,[16] Paramount in 1922–1924, Gennett in 1924, OKeh in 1925–1926, Victor in 1927 and Columbia in 1929.

[12][14] In 1928, Hunter played Queenie opposite Paul Robeson in the first London production of Show Boat at Drury Lane.

She subsequently performed in nightclubs throughout Europe and appeared for the 1934 winter season with Jack Jackson's society orchestra at the Dorchester, in London.

[18] While at the Dorchester, she made several HMV recordings with the orchestra and appeared in Radio Parade of 1935 (1934),[18] the first British theatrical film to feature the short-lived Dufaycolor, but Hunter's segment was one of only two in color.

With a vocal duet chorus between Clarence Todd and herself, "Cake Walking Babies (From Home)," featuring Bechet and Armstrong, was another one of Hunter's hits recorded in December 1924 during her time in New York City.

[21] She had already made a brief return by performing on two albums in the early 1960s, but now she had a regular engagement at a Greenwich Village club, becoming an attraction there until her death, in October 1984.

He had not previously shown interest in Hunter, but he had been a close associate of Barney Josephson decades earlier, when the latter ran the Café Society Uptown and Downtown clubs.

Her Columbia albums, The Glory of Alberta Hunter, Amtrak Blues (on which she sang the jazz classic "Darktown Strutters' Ball"), and Look For the Silver Lining, did not sell as well as expected, but sales were nevertheless healthy.

There were also numerous appearances on television programs, including To Tell the Truth (in which panelist Kitty Carlisle had to recuse herself, the two having known each other in Hunter's heyday).

She also had a walk-on role in Remember My Name, a 1978 film by Alan Rudolph, for which producer Robert Altman commissioned her to write and to perform the soundtrack music.

[21][15] In 1919, Hunter married Willard Saxby Townsend, a former soldier[24] who later became a labor leader for baggage handlers via the International Brotherhood of Red Caps, but the marriage was short-lived.

[28] Hunter is buried in the Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, Westchester County, New York (Elmwood section, plot 1411), the location of many celebrity graves.

Hunter's life and relationship with Lottie Tyler are represented in the play Leaving the Blues by Jewelle Gomez, produced by the TOSOS theatre company in New York City in 2020.

[31] Rosalind Brown (from the original cast of Footloose and One Mo' Time) plays the role of Alberta Hunter in Leaving the Blues.