Chan Parker

Chan Woods
Born	Beverly Dolores Berg[1] 29 June 1925 New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	9 September 1999 (aged 74) Étampes, France
Spouse	Charlie Parker; Phil Woods

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (February 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Chan Woods (born Beverly Dolores Berg, also known as Chan Richardson; 29 June 1925 – 9 September 1999),^[2] was a common-law wife of jazz musician Charlie Parker; she later married musician Phil Woods.

She was born in New York City. She was a dancer and jazz enthusiast who in the 1940s and early 1950s was romantically connected with jazz musicians Johnny Bothwell and later Don Lanphere.^[3]

She met Parker in the 1940s, but their friendship did not become romantic until years later. As it developed, their relationship had to surmount several obstacles, including Charlie's drug and alcohol abuse as well as the interracial nature of their relationship at a time when American society was still largely segregated.^{[citation needed]}

Later years and death[]

Their relationship was dealt a severe blow with the death of their daughter, Pree, a year and a week before Charlie Parker's own death.^[4] Two years after Parker's death in 1955, Chan married saxophonist Phil Woods and moved to France, where she spent much of the rest of her life. From this marriage, they had a daughter, Aimée Francesca Woods (1961-1993). In her later years, she wrote the memoir My Life in E-Flat,^[5] which discusses her life with Charlie Parker. It was published in 1999, the year of her death from cancer, aged 74, which occurred in Étampes, France.^[6]

Just before her death, Chan was interviewed by Ken Burns, and she was seen posthumously in Burns' 2001 documentary Jazz.

She is the mother of jazz vocalist Kim Parker.^[7]

References[]

External links[]

• "Bird Lives" website