Music / Religion
Sippie Wallace
1898–1986 · blues singer, pianist, songwriter, church organist
1920s classic-blues star who moved to Detroit in 1929, served a Detroit church as organist for some 40 years, and returned to the stage in the 1960s.
- Born
Plum Bayou, Jefferson County, Arkansas- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 88- Birth name
- Beulah Belle Thomas
- Also known as
- The Texas Nightingale
- Detroit years
- 1929–1986
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Billed as the Texas Nightingale, Wallace recorded more than 40 songs for Okeh between 1923 and 1927, often written by her brothers George and Hersal Thomas and backed by players such as Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet. She moved to Detroit in 1929, just as the classic-blues boom faded, and turned to church music: for about four decades she sang and played organ at Leland Baptist Church. Blues singer Victoria Spivey persuaded her to perform again in 1966, and she went on to the Newport Folk Festival, a European tour and the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues Festival. Bonnie Raitt, who had discovered her records as a teenager, recorded her songs and toured with her; their friendship led to the 1982 album Sippie, which won a W. C. Handy Award and a Grammy nomination. Wallace died in Detroit on her 88th birthday and is buried in the city's Trinity Cemetery.
Highlights
- Recorded over 40 sides for Okeh Records (1923–1927)
- Known for "Up the Country Blues" and "Women Be Wise, Don't Advertise Your Man"
- Singer and organist at Leland Baptist Church in Detroit for about 40 years
- Album Sippie (1982): W. C. Handy Award and Grammy nomination
- Inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 1993
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 2
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1930s–1970s
Leland Missionary Baptist Church
The Baptist congregation she served as singer and organist for some 40 years; the church, chartered in 1923, has since moved to its present building on Fenkell Street.
Buried here · 1986
Trinity Cemetery
East-side Detroit cemetery, also known as the German Lutheran Cemetery, where Wallace was buried in 1986.