Georgia White

Georgia White (March 9, 1903 – c.1980) was an African American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s.

Little is known of her early life. By the late 1920s she was singing in clubs in Chicago, and she made her first recording, "When You're Smiling, the Whole World Smiles With You," with Jimmie Noone's orchestra in 1930. She returned to the studio in 1935, and over the next six years recorded over 100 tracks for Decca Records, usually accompanied by the pianist Richard M. Jones and also, in the late 1930s, by guitarist Lonnie Johnson.[1]

She also recorded under the name Georgia Lawson. Tracks included "I'll Keep Sitting on It," "Take Me for a Buggy Ride," "Mama Knows What Papa Wants When Papa's Feeling Blue," and "Hot Nuts." Her best-known song was "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now" (1935).[1]

White formed an all-women band in the 1940s, and also performed with Bumble Bee Slim. She joined Big Bill Broonzy's Laughing Trio in 1949 as pianist. "She was very easy to get along with," said Broonzy. "Real friendly."[1] She was a club singer in the 1950s, finally performing in 1959 in Chicago. She then resumed performing weekends at the Blue Pub, a bar on Irving Park Road near the Kennedy Expressway, where she quickly won a loyal following. She arrived and left by cab, always dressed as a star. She sang many of her famous songs but the one she loved the most and did brilliantly was "Maybe I'm Wrong Again," a ballad from an early Bing Crosby movie. Crosby had recorded it and one or two British bands. I know because I arrived in Chicago in September, 1964, from St. Louis and one of my new friends took me to the Blue Pub particularly to hear Georgia as I was in the music business (also a journalist and about to become a teacher). I was immediately caught up in her music and style and we talked a lot. I could never find "Maybe I'm Wrong Again," a record or sheet music or anything but I made a record of it using only the lyrics I knew from Georgia's performances. Around 2001 I finally found a British C.D. with Bing's recording and was surprised to find I had gotten the melody and the lyrics exactly right.

One of her songs, "Alley Boogie" (recorded November 9, 1937),[2] was used as the theme music for the British romantic comedy drama series, Love Soup.[3][4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 185. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  2. ↑ Blues Women (Media notes). Orbis Publishing. 1996. BLU NC 073.
  3. ↑ "Love Soup (Summary)". Phill.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  4. ↑ "Love Soup". TV.com. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 30, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.