Patti Flynn

Patti Flynn (born Patricia Maude Young; April 1937 – 10 September 2020) was a Welsh jazz singer, author, model and social activist. In 2019 she was honoured with the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement Association's (EMWWAA) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Early life

Patti Flynn was born Patricia Maude Young, April 1937 in Sophia Street, Cardiff. Her father was merchant seaman from Jamaica arrived in Cardiff at the end of the First World War. Her mother was from Cardiff.

When Flynn was one year old, the family moved to 40 Pomeroy Street and she later attended St. Mary's School in Clarence Road, Cardiff. which is close to the Church of St Mary the Virgin and St Stephen the Martyr in Butetown.

Career

Flynn gave her first professional in the Glamorgan pub in Tiger Bay, aged 18, and with accompaniment by her mentor: jazz guitarist Victor Parker. She went on to have a career as a jazz singer, and was a contemporary of Shirley Bassey, who was also born in the area of Tiger Bay. She was also an author, radio actress and was co-founder of the Butetown Bay Jazz Festival.

Flynn moved to Spain in the middle of the 1980s, where she developed into a well-known music producer and radio hostess with her shows "Just for You" and "Costa Nights." Nevertheless, Patti never forgot her roots in Tiger Bay, and she later returned to Cardiff to create and perform her well-known programs, "Jazz Ladies of the Twentieth Century" and "Trip Down Memory Lane," which featured music by the Great American Composers, as well as the "Butetown Bay Divas" with Humie and Jacky Webbe.

She campaigned valiantly for 26 years to have a monument erected and together in 2019, Patti Flynn, Uzo Iwobi and Race Council Cymru worked with Deputy Minister and Chief Whip Jane Hutt MS, Cllr Susan Elsmore, Cardiff Council, Royal Commonwealth Society Wales, British Legion and British Armed Forces represented by Colonel Jonah MacGill and the stone masons organised to have the monument installed. Patti Flynn wrote the words on the face of the monument and in so doing ensured that her legacy and the selfless sacrifice of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic service men and women in Wales will never be extinguished". - Black History Wales

In 2019, Flynn was honoured with the Ethnic Minority Welsh Women Achievement Association's (EMWWAA) Lifetime Achievement Award, at the same time as her friend Humie Webbe who also won awards. She was also a founder and patron of Black History Wales.

Patti Flynn died of cancer on 10 September 2020, aged 83 years.