One of the few blues queens of the prewar vaudeville era to enjoy a new round of celebrity in the 1960s, ’70s, and ’80s, Sippie Wallace began her recording career in 1923. Billed as the ‘Texas Nightingale,’ Wallace was born Beulah Thomas in Plum Bayou, Arkansas, on Nov. 1, 1898, but was raised from infancy in Houston. She was singing in tent shows and performing with her brothers, pianists George and Hersal Thomas, before moving to Chicago and then to Detroit in the 1920s. She became a popular act for OKeh Records and toured the T.O.B.A. circuit for several years, but eventually left the stage and began playing organ in her Detroit church. After recording only sporadically in the intervening decades, she made a comeback in 1966 at the encouragement of Victoria Spivey and recorded her most critically acclaimed albums in Europe for the Storyville label. Her career was subsequently boosted by Bonnie Raitt, bringing her more prestigious performing and recording opportunities as Wallace’s songs ‘Women Be Wise’ and ‘I’m a Mighty Tight Woman,’ among others gained renewed popularity. Wallace died in Detroit on her 88th birthday, Nov. 1, 1986.
— Jim O’Neal
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