“The first big stars, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, you know, these were gigantic stars. I even wonder sometimes whether all music actually comes from women, whether the first glimmering of music is a mother soothing a baby.”

English actor, comedian, and musician

Hugh Laurie is an English actor, comedian, and musician. Born James Hugh Calum Laurie, he first came to wider attention through his comedy partnership with Stephen Fry, in the double act Fry and Laurie. He and Fry worked together on several projects in the 1980s and 1990s, including the BBC sketch series A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the P. G. Wodehouse adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. Laurie also appeared in three series of the period comedy Blackadder from 1986 to 1989.