Lucille Hegamin

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Lucille Hegamin (born November 29, 1894 as Lucille Nelson in Macon , Georgia , † March 1, 1970 in New York City ) was an American blues singer. In 1920 she was the second African American after Mamie Smith to make blues recordings.

Live and act

At the age of 15, Lucille Nelson was already out and about with minstrel shows in the southern United States. She has been called "the Georgia Peach" ( the Georgia Peach known). In 1914 she settled in Chicago , where she worked with Tony Jackson and Jelly Roll Morton and married the pianist Bill Hegamin . The Hegamin couple moved to Los Angeles in 1918 and to New York the following year. Bill Hegamin led his wife's backing band, the "Blue Flame Syncopators". In August 1920, Lucille Hegamin recorded the tracks The Jazz Me Blues and "Everybody's Blues" for Arto Records; these recordings sold well. In 1921 she recorded the Arkansas Blues and I'll Be Good But I'll Be Lonesome , also with the Blue Flame Syncopators , one of the most popular records of the year. In the same year she toured Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. Further recordings followed in the next few years, some under the pseudonym The Cameo Girl ; She had another hit in 1922 with He May Be Your Man, But He Comes to See Me Sometimes . That same year she continued to sing in the New York production of Shuffle Along .

From 1926 Hegamin appeared in various revues ; In 1928 she recorded (accompanied by J. Russel Robinson ) Always Be Careful Mama and Reckless Men . In 1929 she had a radio show in New York. Around 1934 she retired from the music business and worked as a nurse. She did not take pictures again until 1961 and 1962. Lucille Hegamin died in New York in 1970. She is buried in Brooklyn .

Discographic notes

  • Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 1: 1920-1922 (Document, 1995)
  • Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 2: 1922-1923 (Document, 1995)
  • Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 3: 1923-1932 (Document, 1995)
  • Complete Recorded Works, Vol. 4: 1920-1926 (Document, 1998)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hegamin, Lucille
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nelson, Lucille; The cameo girl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American blues singer
DATE OF BIRTH November 29, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Macon (Georgia)
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1970
Place of death New York City