Biography Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey (15 October 1906 - 3 October 1976 Dead Rock Stars Club website - accessed December 2007) was an American blues singer.
Victoria Spivey's first professional experience was in a family string band led by her father in Houston. She also played on her own at local parties and, in 1918, was hired to accompany films at the Lincoln Theater in Dallas. As a teenager, she worked in local bars, nightclubs, and buffet flats, mostly alone, but occasionally with singer-guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1926, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she was signed by Okeh Records. Her first recording, "Black Snake Blues", did well, so her association with the record label continued. She made numerous Okeh sides in New York until 1929, then switched to the RCA Victor label. Between 1931 and 1937, more recordings followed on the Vocalion and Decca labels, and, working out of New York, she maintained an active performance schedule. Spivey's recorded accompaniments included King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, and Red Allen. She recorded many of her own songs, which dwelt on disease, crime and outré sexual images.
Depression did not put an end to Spivey's musical career, but she had found a new outlet for her talent in the year of the crash, when film director King Vidor cast her to play "Missy Rose" in his first sound film, Hallelujah!. Through the 1930s and 1940s, Spivey continued to work in musical films and stage shows, often with her husband, vaudeville dancer Billy Adams, including the Hellzapoppin' Revue.
In 1951 Spivey retired from show business to play the pipe organ and lead a church choir, but she returned to secular music in 1961, when she was reunited with an old singing partner, Lonnie Johnson, to appear on four tracks on his Prestige Bluesville album, Idle Hours. The folk music revival of the 1960s gave her further opportunities to make at least a semblance of a comeback. She recorded again for Prestige Bluesville, sharing an album Songs We Taught Your Mother with fellow veterans Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegamin and began making personal appearances at festivals and clubs. In 1962 she and jazz historian Len Kunstadt, launched Spivey Records, a low-budget label dedicated to blues and related music. They recorded prolifically such performers as Sippie Wallace, Lucille Hegamin, Otis Rush, Otis Spann, Buddy Tate and Hannah Sylvester, as well as newer artists including Luther Johnson, Brenda Bell, and Larry Johnson.
Bob Dylan, who had heard Spivey sing at Folk City, in Greenwich Village, also made an appearance on the label, identified as "Blind Boy Grunt," and Janis Ian appeared as "Blind Girl Grunt." In 1964 Spivey made her one and only recording with an all-white band: the Connecticut based Easy Riders Jazz Band, led by trombonist, Big Bill Bissonnette. It was released first on a LP and later re-released on compact disc.
The Spivey Records archives were digitally remastered for the relaunch of the label in 2007.
Spivey married four times; her husbands included Ruben Floyd and Billy Adams.
Victoria Spivey died on 3 October 1976, at the age of 69, from an internal haemorrhage. Dead Rock Stars Club website - accessed December 2007
1906 births1976 deathsAmerican blues musiciansAmerican blues singersAmerican female singersClassic female blues singersVaudeville performersPeople from Houston
Victoria SpiveyVictoria Spivey
Life and career
She was born Victoria Regina Spivey in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Grant and Addie (Smith) Spivey. Her father was a part-time musician and a flagman for the railroad; her mother was a nurse. Her sisters were - Addie "Sweet Peas" Spivey, also a singer and musician, who recorded for several major record labels between 1929 and 1937; and Elton "Za-Zu" Spivey, who also followed a professional singing career.Victoria Spivey's first professional experience was in a family string band led by her father in Houston. She also played on her own at local parties and, in 1918, was hired to accompany films at the Lincoln Theater in Dallas. As a teenager, she worked in local bars, nightclubs, and buffet flats, mostly alone, but occasionally with singer-guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1926, she moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where she was signed by Okeh Records. Her first recording, "Black Snake Blues", did well, so her association with the record label continued. She made numerous Okeh sides in New York until 1929, then switched to the RCA Victor label. Between 1931 and 1937, more recordings followed on the Vocalion and Decca labels, and, working out of New York, she maintained an active performance schedule. Spivey's recorded accompaniments included King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Lonnie Johnson, and Red Allen. She recorded many of her own songs, which dwelt on disease, crime and outré sexual images.
Depression did not put an end to Spivey's musical career, but she had found a new outlet for her talent in the year of the crash, when film director King Vidor cast her to play "Missy Rose" in his first sound film, Hallelujah!. Through the 1930s and 1940s, Spivey continued to work in musical films and stage shows, often with her husband, vaudeville dancer Billy Adams, including the Hellzapoppin' Revue.
In 1951 Spivey retired from show business to play the pipe organ and lead a church choir, but she returned to secular music in 1961, when she was reunited with an old singing partner, Lonnie Johnson, to appear on four tracks on his Prestige Bluesville album, Idle Hours. The folk music revival of the 1960s gave her further opportunities to make at least a semblance of a comeback. She recorded again for Prestige Bluesville, sharing an album Songs We Taught Your Mother with fellow veterans Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegamin and began making personal appearances at festivals and clubs. In 1962 she and jazz historian Len Kunstadt, launched Spivey Records, a low-budget label dedicated to blues and related music. They recorded prolifically such performers as Sippie Wallace, Lucille Hegamin, Otis Rush, Otis Spann, Buddy Tate and Hannah Sylvester, as well as newer artists including Luther Johnson, Brenda Bell, and Larry Johnson.
Bob Dylan, who had heard Spivey sing at Folk City, in Greenwich Village, also made an appearance on the label, identified as "Blind Boy Grunt," and Janis Ian appeared as "Blind Girl Grunt." In 1964 Spivey made her one and only recording with an all-white band: the Connecticut based Easy Riders Jazz Band, led by trombonist, Big Bill Bissonnette. It was released first on a LP and later re-released on compact disc.
The Spivey Records archives were digitally remastered for the relaunch of the label in 2007.
Spivey married four times; her husbands included Ruben Floyd and Billy Adams.
Victoria Spivey died on 3 October 1976, at the age of 69, from an internal haemorrhage. Dead Rock Stars Club website - accessed December 2007
See also
- List of Classic female blues singers
- List of Country blues musicians
- L-Z
- Classic female blues
- List of blues musicians
- Spivey Records
References
External links
- Victoria Spivey's record label
- Victoria Spivey papers, circa 1960-1976, Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
- Biography on Red Hot Jazz website
- Biography at the All Music Guide website
- Bio on The African American Registry
1906 births1976 deathsAmerican blues musiciansAmerican blues singersAmerican female singersClassic female blues singersVaudeville performersPeople from Houston
Victoria SpiveyVictoria Spivey
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria Spivey
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
Links
http://www.sonorika.com/victoriaspivey/biographyhttp://www.bioandlyrics.com/victoriaspivey
