Bertha Hill

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Bertha Chippie Hill around 1947.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb .

Bertha "Chippie" Hill (born March 15, 1905 in Charleston , South Carolina , † May 7, 1950 in New York City , New York ) was an American blues , jazz and vaudeville singer and dancer.

Live and act

Bertha "Chippie" Hill was born as one of sixteen children and grew up in New York. She began her career as a dancer in Harlem and worked for Ethel Waters in 1919 . At the age of 14, she was nicknamed "Chippie" when she performed at Leroy’s , a New York nightclub known at the time, because of her young age. She also appeared with Ma Rainey as a member of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels , after which she established herself with her own show on tours of the Theater Owners Booking Association in the early 1920s.

Around 1925 she settled in Chicago and worked in various revues, including with King Oliver's Jazz Band. Her first recordings were made in 1925 for the Okeh Records label , where she was accompanied by Louis Armstrong and pianist Richard M. Jones on the songs "Pratt City Blues", "Low Land Blues" and "Kid Man Blues". In 1926 the titles "Georgia Man" and "Trouble in Mind" were recorded with the same cast. In 1927 he wrote “Hard Times Blues”, “Weary Money Blues”, “Tell Me Why” and “Speedway Blues” in a duet with Lonnie Johnson . In 1928 she sang the vocal duets "Hard Times Blues", "Christmas Man Blues" with Tampa Red , and in 1929 with "Scrapper" Blackwell & The Two Roys , Leroy Carr on piano, the song "Non-skid Tread". In the period from 1925 to 1929 Bertha "Chippie" Hill recorded a total of 23 titles.

She retired from the music business in the 1930s to raise her children. In 1946 Bertha Hill made a comeback with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders ; for Rudi Blesh's label Circle Records she recorded a number of titles, such as “Blues Around the Clock”. She also sang on Blesh's radio program "This is Jazz" and gave concerts in New York clubs such as Village Vanguard in 1947 and Carnegie Hall with Kid Ory in 1948 ; she also performed at the Paris Jazz Festival and worked with Art Hodes in Chicago . Her successful career ended in 1950 when she was run over by a car in New York and suffered fatal injuries. She died in a Harlem hospital and was buried in Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island , Cook County, Illinois .

Discographic notes

  • 2005 - Complete Works , Vol. 1 - (1925-1929)

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues , Penguin Books, S 206, (2001) - ISBN 0141001453
  2. ↑ Ross, Ross. Laird. Moanin 'Low: A Discography of Female Popular Vocal Recordings, 1920-1933 , Greenwood Press, S 263, (1996) - ISBN 0313292418
  3. ^ Find a Grave: Bertha "Chippie" Hill
personal data
SURNAME Hill, Bertha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hill, Chippie (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues, jazz and vaudeville singer and dancer
DATE OF BIRTH March 15, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Charleston , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH May 7, 1950
Place of death New York City , New York