Texas blues singer Sippie Wallace was born this day in 1898, and died this day in 1986, on her 88th birthday. Beulah Sippie Wallace was born in Houston, Texas, one of 13 children. In her youth Wallace sang and played the piano in Shiloh Baptist Church, where her father was a deacon, but in the evenings she and her brothers took to sneaking out to tent shows. By her mid-teens, they were playing in those tent shows. By performing throughout Texas, she built a solid following as a spirited blues singer and was known as The Texas Nightingale. youtu.be/eP8LaN240xM After following her brothers to Chicago in 1923, Wallace worked her way into the citys bustling jazz scene. Her reputation led to a recording contract with Okeh Records in 1923. Wallaces first recorded songs, Shorty George and Up the Country Blues, the former written with her brother George, sold well enough to make Wallace a blues star in the early 1920s. Between 1923 and 1927, she recorded over 40 songs for Okeh Records, many written by herself or her brothers, George and Hersal Thomas. Her accompanists included Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, and Clarence Williams.Other successful recordings followed, including Special Delivery Blues (with Louis Armstrong), Bedroom Blues (written by George and Hersal Thomas), and Im a Mighty Tight Woman. youtu.be/kt3ysZXep4M Her younger brother Hersal died of food poisoning in 1926 at age 16. Wallace moved to Detroit in 1929. Her husband Matt and brother George both died in 1936. Wallace for some 40 years was a singer and organ player at the Leland Baptist Church in Detroit. Mercury Records reissued Bedroom Blues in 1945. Aside from an occasional performance or recording date, Wallace did little in the blues until she launched a comeback in 1966 after her longtime friend Victoria Spivey coaxed her out of retirement and on the folk and blues festival circuit. youtu.be/VMnh5MFUBLc She continued performing and recording until her death twenty years later. In March 1986, following a concert in Germany at Burghausen Jazz Festival, she suffered a severe stroke, was hospitalized, returned to the US, and died on her 88th birthday at Sinai Hospital in Detroit, Michigan. She is buried at Trinity Cemetery, Detroit. youtu.be/gC-8A-EhkJ8
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 05:44:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015