Dianaruthe Wharton

Dianaruthe Wharton (born May 7, 1951) is an American musician. A 1990 Guggenheim Fellow, she was a pianist and singer for Sweet Honey in the Rock joining as the 5th member of the group in 1974 until leaving the group in 1978. and released the album African Pop from the New World. Biography Dianaruthe Wharton was born in Baltimore on May 7, 1951. She also worked at RCA Records as an editor and proofreader. In 1983, she was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Jazz Composers, which she then used for her work Fulani Me. Mike Joyce of The Washington Post said that her 1989 Baird Auditorium concert, where she was pianist and vocalist, "bore witness to the inspiration she draws from the music, dance and culture of her ancestral home, Africa".

In 1990, Wharton was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in music composition. As part of her work with the Fellowship, she and her family spent time in Senegal. In 2015, she was composer for Mai Sennaar's play The Fall of the Kings.

Wharton worked for the Howard County Public School System as a music teacher.

Wharton and her husband have two children, In 1991, she lived in the western area of Baltimore.

Discography African Pop from the New World (from A.E.L.O. Music Group)