Katie Crippen

Katie Crippen (November 17, 1895 – November 25, 1929), also billed as Little Katie Crippen or Ella White, was an African American entertainer and singer.

Crippen was born in Philadelphia. She performed at Edmond's Cellar in New York City ca. 1920.^[1] In 1921, she recorded four sides for Black Swan Records in the classic female blues style, accompanied by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra.^[2] She toured in 1922–23 as the star of a revue, "Liza and her Shuffling Sextet", that included Fats Waller.^[1][3] She subsequently formed a revue, "Katie Crippen and Her Kids", in which she was accompanied by a teenaged Count Basie.^[4] In the later 1920s he appeared in revues at the Lafayette Theater in New York City, and toured the RKO theater circuit with Dewey Brown as Crippen & Brown.^[1]

After a long illness, Crippen died of cancer in New York City on November 25, 1929. She is buried in Merion Memorial Park, in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia.^[1]

Crippen's complete recordings have been reissued in CD format by Document Records on Fletcher Henderson and the Blues Singers: Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order Volume 1 (1921–1923) (DODC-5342).

Notes

References

• Katie Crippen at AllMusic
• Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80155-8
• Magee, Jeffrey (2005). The uncrowned king of swing: Fletcher Henderson and big band jazz. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509022-5
• Shipton, Alyn (1988). Fats Waller: his life & times. Universe Books, 1988. ISBN 0-87663-687-3