The publication is reproduced in full below:
IN RECOGNITION OF THE LIFE AND MEMORY OF MOLLY HAMMMER
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HON. EMANUEL CLEAVER
of missouri
in the house of representatives
Thursday, January 21, 2021
Mr. CLEAVER. Madam Speaker, I rise today with a sadness I struggle to express on behalf of a community that has lost a voice, a city that has lost a leader, and family that has lost a friend. I rise to honor the life and memory of Molly Hammer. Molly spent years gracing Kansas City and the world with a one-of-a-kind voice and an indomitable spirit. For thirteen of those years, she did so while sharing her life with metastatic breast cancer. On Tuesday, November 24, Molly lost her fight with breast cancer. She was forty-eight years old. Her story, cut tragically short, is of a soul who sought to use her gifts to spread joy and to use her hardships to inspire hope. For fifteen years, Molly sang for us. Today, we sing of her.
Those lucky enough to have followed Molly's career since its beginning know that the talent, work ethic, and grit she displayed in the final years of her life were nothing new. Her high school choir teacher remembers her astounding professionalism while playing the narrator in her high school's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. After graduating, she went on to become a stage actor and portrayed Patsy Cline on a stage in Iowa for five years. In 2005, Molly answered a spiritual call from a difficult industry where she could have the complete independence she craved--jazz and blues. And thank goodness she did. It was then that she dove into an intense study of vocal jazz and began an illustrious career in the Kansas City music community. Molly soon became a fixture of the 18th & Vine jazz scene, winning the 2016 Critics' Choice for Best Jazz Singer award from The Pitch, releasing four LPs--one just three months ago--and cementing her place as an integral stitch in the rich cultural fabric of Jazz's cradle.
In 2008, Molly was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she beat it. Eight years later, it came back, and Molly returned to her battle, this time fighting a more aggressive foe but with no less determination or spirit. And not only did Molly continue to bring joy to her community through song during that battle, she also became an outspoken advocate for cancer research and a powerful voice in bringing awareness to what it means to live life with the disease. She called for increased research funding and better methods of preventative screening, worked with organizations like METAvivor and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and even lobbied Congress. However, though her music and her advocacy took her all over the country and all over the world, Molly, I am proud to say, was devoted to Kansas City, and more specifically to the Kansas City music community. She supported organizations like GUILDit, which seeks to connect the world of music to the world of business to help support artists, After all, when Molly was diagnosed, she had no health insurance--a tragically common phenomenon among independent artists. And recently, she chose to donate the proceeds from her albums to the Midwest Music Foundation, ensuring that her giving spirit will continue to touch artists in her community for years to come.
I have always been struck by Molly's ability play any room at all. Molly sang the National Anthem at Arrowhead Stadium. Molly sang it at Kauffman Stadium. Molly sang at the Kauffman Center. Molly sang at the Folly Theater. And yet, even when her fight with cancer was at its most painful ebb, Molly got out every single weekend and brought her voice and her presence to local jazz clubs and Unity churches throughout Kansas City. When the pandemic struck, dealing a crushing blow to musicians and venues everywhere, Molly sang online from her living room. On stage with a microphone in hand and a piano to sing beside--
that's where Molly felt at home. She used to say it was because music fed her soul. I so hope Molly knew that her music fed our souls as well.
Today, my heart is with Molly's family and friends, who are coping with a loss no amount of preparation could have softened. To Molly's parents, I say this: we are never prepared to outlive our children. I hope you take comfort in that you were able to see Molly exhibit a resilience that every parent hopes their child will have when they send them out into what can be an unfair and unforgiving world. Scripture tells us, ``Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.'' Molly's story, to me, is a story of service. Molly was given the gift of a singular voice and a presence that could light up jazz club, a concert hall, or a stadium, and she used it to bring joy and music to others. Molly was dealt a terrible disease, and she used it to bring awareness and comfort to those fighting alongside her. Molly administered God's grace in one of its most breathtaking forms, and she did so for all of us.
Jazz is about many things. It is about finding beauty where there is pain. It is about finding freedom where there are shackles. But at a musical level, jazz is about setting up rules, so they can then be broken. It is about establishing a rhythm, so that it can be defied. Madam Speaker, as I reckon with this loss, I take comfort in my belief that Molly has defied the unrelenting rhythm of this mortal world and taken her place among a choir of angels. There is piano somewhere in heaven that has been waiting for Molly, and I know that today, she is singing beside it.
So, Madam Speaker, please join me in honoring the life and legacy of Molly Hammer. Though she may never return to the stages where we've seen her before, today Molly joins a pantheon of jazz greats whose music echoes through time. Artists never really die, and I woke up this morning with Molly's music in my head. ``So let me fly out of this world,'' she would often sing at the end of her concerts, ``And spend the next eternity or two / with you.''
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SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 12
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