Bertha "Chippie" Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Bertha "Chippie" Hill | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Born | March 15, 1905 |
| Origin | Charleston, South Carolina, USA |
| Died | May 7, 1950 (aged 45) New York City, New York, USA |
| Genre(s) | Blues, Vaudeville |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | 1920s – 1950 |
| Label(s) | Okeh |
Bertha "Chippie" Hill (March 15, 1905 – May 7, 1950), was an American blues and vaudeville singer and dancer, best known for her recordings with Louis Armstrong.
Contents |
[edit] Career
Hill was born in Charleston, South Carolina, one of sixteen children [1], but in 1915 the family moved to New York. She began her career as a dancer in Harlem, and by 1919 was working as a dancer with Ethel Waters. At age 14, during a stint at Leroy's, a noted New York nightclub, Hill was nicknamed "Chippie" because of her young age.[2] She also performed with Ma Rainey as part of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, before establishing her own song and dance act and touring on the TOBA circuit in the early 1920s.
She settled in Chicago in about 1925, and worked at various venues with King Oliver's Jazz Band. She first recorded in November 1925 for Okeh Records, backed by cornet play Louis Armstrong and pianist Richard M. Jones on songs such as "Pratt City Blues","Low Land Blues", and "Kid Man Blues" that year, and on "Georgia Man" and "Trouble in Mind" with the same musicians in 1926. Recording in 1927, with Lonnie Johnson vocal duet, "Hard Times Blues", "Weary Money Blues", "Tell Me Why", and "Speedway Blues". In 1928, some tracks with Tampa Red vocal duet, "Hard Times Blues", "Christmas Man Blues", and in 1929 with "Scrapper" Blackwell & The Two Roys, Leroy Carr on piano, song "Non-skid Tread".[3] Bertha "Chippie" Hill recorded 23 titles during 1925 to 1929.
In the 1930s she retired from singing to raise her children. Hill staged a comeback in 1946 with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders and recorded for Rudi Blesh's Circle label. She began appearing on radio and in clubs and concerts in New York, including in 1948 the Carnegie Hall with Kid Ory, sang at the Paris Jazz Festival, and worked with Art Hodes in Chicago.
She was back in prime form in 1950 when she was run over by a car and killed in New York City. She is buried at the Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois.[4]
[edit] Selective discography
| Year | Title | Genre | Label | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Complete Works, Vol. 1 (1925-1929) | Blues | Document |
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Paul Oliver, in The Story of the Blues, suggests on the basis of one of her songs that she may instead have been born in Pratt City, Birmingham, Alabama
- ^ Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues, Penguin Books, page 206, (2001) - ISBN 0141001453
- ^ Ross, Ross. Laird. Moanin' Low: A Discography of Female Popular Vocal Recordings, 1920-1933, Greenwood Press, page 263, (1996) - ISBN 0313292418
- ^ Find a Grave: Bertha "Chippie" Hill
