Sippie Wallace,
like fellow classic blues singer Victoria Spivey, was
born in Texas and carried with her a tradition of
Texas-styled blues that emphasized risqué lyrics and
rough-cut, rural vocal phrasing rather than the
sophisticated accents of the era' s more cosmopolitan
blues singers.
Although her recording career stretched throughout
most of the 20s, her best work was done from 1923 to
1927 when the likes of Louis Armstrong, Johnny Dodds,
Sidney Bechet, and Clarence Williams accompanied her
in the recording studio.
Wallace was born Beulah Thomas, November 1, 1898, in
Houston, Texas, an active blues town at the
time. Though she learned the rudiments of
singing and playing the piano in church, her older
brother, George Thomas, was probably the one who
introduced her to the blues. Early on she began
performing with her younger piano playing brother,
Hersal Thomas.
By the time she was in her mid-teens, Wallace had
left home for a career in show business. She
performed with various Texas tent shows and built a
solid following in Texas as a spirited blues
singer. Wallace moved to New Orleans with
brother Hersal in 1915. Two years later she
married Matt Wallace.
After following her brothers to Chicago in 1923,
Wallace worked her way into the city's bustling jazz
scene. Her reputation as a hard-bottomed blues
singer led to a recording contract with Okeh Records
in 1923.
Wallace's 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 20s.
The
Big
Book of Blues: A Biographical
Encyclopedia; Robert Santelli.
