Among those who frequently attended Mercer's shows was Frank Sinatra, who made no secret of his emulating her phrasing and story-telling techniques.

[2] Her mother was a young, white English music hall performer, and her father was an itinerant black American musician,[2] who died before she was born.

[3] At the age of 14, she left her convent school in Manchester, and toured Britain and Europe with her aunt in vaudeville and music hall engagements.

[4] In 1928, she was an unknown member of the black chorus in the London production of Show Boat,[2] but she had become the toast of Paris by the 1930s, with admirers who included Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter.

[5] Mercer's earliest recordings were selections from Porgy and Bess,[2] released in 1942 on the elite Liberty Music Shops label, featuring piano accompaniment by Cy Walter.

Mercer was the first guest on Eileen Farrell's new program on National Public Radio featuring great popular singers.

[2] Mercer died on 20 April 1984, aged 84, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts,[1] and is buried at Red Rock Cemetery near Chatham, New York.