Denise LaSalle

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Denise LaSalle (b Denise Craig, 16 July 1939, Leflore County, Mississippi) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Raised in Belzoni, Mississippi, she sang in local churches before moving to Chicago in the early 1960s. She sat in with R&B musicians and wrote songs, influenced by country music as well as the blues, before winning a recording contract with Chess Records in 1967. Her first single, “A Love Reputation” was a modest regional hit.

After establishing an independent production company, Crajon, with her husband Bill Jones, her first major success came in 1971 when her song “Trapped By A Thing Called Love”, released on Westbound Records, made # 1 on the national R&B chart and # 13 on the pop charts. Follow-ups "Now Run And Tell That" and "Man Sized Job" also made the R&B top ten, and she continued to have hits on Westbound and then on ABC Records through the mid-1970s. She also carried on as a record producer and live performer.

In 1980 she signed as a singer and songwriter with Malaco Records, for whom she released a string of critically acclaimed albums through the 1980s and 1990s, starting with Lady in the Street (1983) and Right Place, Right Time (1984). She continues to work as a live performer, particularly at festivals, and more recently has issued more gospel-tinged material.