Victoria Spivey
Victoria Spivey | |
---|---|
Birth name | Victoria Regina Spivey |
Born | Houston, Texas, U.S. | October 15, 1906
Died | October 3, 1976 New York City | (aged 69)
Genres | Blues |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano |
Labels |
Victoria Regina Spivey (October 15, 1906 – October 3, 1976),[1][2] sometimes known as Queen Victoria,[3] was an American blues singer, songwriter, and record company founder. During a recording career that spanned 40 years, from 1926 to the mid-1960s, she worked with Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Clarence Williams, Luis Russell, Lonnie Johnson, and Bob Dylan.[4] She also performed in vaudeville and clubs, sometimes with her sister Addie "Sweet Peas" (or "Sweet Pease") Spivey (August 22, 1910 – 1943),[5] also known as the Za Zu Girl. Among her compositions are "Black Snake Blues" (1926), "Dope Head Blues" (1927), and "Organ Grinder Blues" (1928). In 1961, she co-founded Spivey Records with one of her husbands, Len Kunstadt.
Life and career
Born in Houston, Texas,[6] she was 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.[7] She had three sisters, all three of whom also sang professionally: Leona, Elton "Za Zu", and Addie "Sweet Peas" (or "Sweet Pease") Spivey (August 22, 1910 – 1943),[5][4] who recorded for several major record labels between 1929 and 1937, and Elton Island Spivey Harris (1900–1971).[8][9] She married four times; her husbands included Ruben Floyd, Billy Adams, and Len Kunstadt, with whom she co-founded Spivey Records in 1961.
Spivey's first professional experience was in a family string band led by her father in Houston. After he died, the seven-year-old Victoria played on her own at local parties. In 1918, she was hired to accompany films at the Lincoln Theater in
The
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
In 1961, Spivey and the jazz and blues historian
In March 1962, Spivey and
Spivey married four times; her husbands included Ruben Floyd, Billy Adams, and Len Kunstadt.[1]
Spivey died in New York on October 3, 1976, at the age of 69, from an internal hemorrhage.[4][13]
Selected discography
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Albums
- Idle Hours (Bluesville, 1961) with Lonnie Johnson (three tracks)
- Songs We Taught Your Mother (Bluesville, 1962) shared album with Alberta Hunter and Lucille Hegamin (four tracks)
- Woman Blues! (Bluesville, 1962) with Lonnie Johnson
- A Basket of Blues (Spivey, 1962) shared album with Buddy Terry, Lucille Hegamin and Hannah Sylvester
- Victoria and Her Blues (Spivey, 1962)
- Three Kings and the Queen (Spivey, 1964) shared album with Roosevelt Sykes, Big Joe Williams and Lonnie Johnson
- The Queen and Her Knights (Spivey, 1965) shared album with Lonnie Johnson, Little Brother Montgomery, Memphis Slim and Sonny Greer
- Music Down Home: An Introduction to Negro Folk Music, U.S.A. (1965)[14]
- The Blues Is Life (1976)[15]
- Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways (2008)[16]
78 rpm singles - Okeh Records
8338A | Victoria Spivey | "Black Snake Blues" | May 5, 1926 |
8338B | Victoria Spivey | "No More Jelly Bean Blues" | May 11, 1926 |
8351A | Victoria Spivey | "Dirty Woman's Blues" | May 5, 1926 |
8351B | Victoria Spivey | "Long Gone Blues" | May 5, 1926 |
8370A | Victoria Spivey | "Spider Web Blues" | August 12, 1926 |
8370B | Victoria Spivey | "Hoodoo Man Blues" | August 11, 1926 |
8389A | Victoria Spivey | "Humored and Petted Blues" | August 12, 1926 |
8389B | Victoria Spivey | "Blue Valley Blues" | August 16, 1926 |
8401A | Victoria Spivey | "Big Houston Blues" | August 13, 1926 |
8401B | Victoria Spivey | "Got the Blues So Bad" | August 13, 1926 |
8410A | Victoria Spivey | "Its Evil Hearted Me" | August 12, 1926 |
8410B | Victoria Spivey | "Santa Fe Blues" | August 12, 1926 |
8464 | Victoria Spivey | "Idle Hour Blues" | April 27, 1927 |
8464 | Victoria Spivey | "Steady Grind" | April 27, 1927 |
8481 | Victoria Spivey | "Arkansas Road Blues" | April 27, 1927 |
8481 | Victoria Spivey | "Alligator Pond Went Dry" | April 27, 1927 |
8494 | Victoria Spivey | "No. 12 Let Me Roam" | April 27, 1927 |
8494 | Victoria Spivey | "T.B Blues (West End Blues)" | April 27, 1927 |
8517 | Victoria Spivey | "Christmas Morning Blues" | October 28, 1927 |
8517 | Victoria Spivey | "Garter Snake Blues" | October 28, 1927 |
8531 | Victoria Spivey with Lonnie Johnson | "Dope Head Blues" | October 28, 1927 |
8531 | Victoria Spivey | "Blood Thirsty Blues" | October 31, 1927 |
8550 | Victoria Spivey | "Jelly Look What You Done Done" | November 1, 1927 |
8550 | Victoria Spivey | "Red Lantern Blues" | October 28, 1927 |
8565 | Victoria Spivey | "A Good Man is Hard to Find" | November 1, 1927 |
8565 | Victoria Spivey | "Your Worries Ain't Like Mine" | November 1, 1927 |
8581 | Victoria Spivey | "Nightmare Blues" | October 31, 1927 |
8581 | Victoria Spivey | "Murder in the First Degree" | October 31, 1927 |
8615 | Victoria Spivey | "My Handy Man" | September 12, 1928 |
8615 | Victoria Spivey | "Organ Grinder Blues" | September 12, 1928 |
8626 | Victoria Spivey | "New Black Snake Blues Part 2" | October 13, 1928 |
8626 | Victoria Spivey | "New Black Snake Blues" | October 13, 1928 |
8634 | Victoria Spivey | "No Papa No" | October 17, 1928 |
8634 | Victoria Spivey | "Mosquito Fly and Flea" | October 18, 1928 |
8652 | Victoria Spivey/Lonnie Johnson | "Furniture Man #2 Blues" | October 18, 1928 |
8652 | Victoria Spivey | "Furniture Man Blues" | October 18, 1928 |
8713 | Victoria Spivey | "How Do They Do It That Way" | July 10, 1929 |
8713 | Victoria Spivey | "Funny Feathers" | July 10, 1929 |
8733 | Victoria Spivey | "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now" | July 3, 1929 |
8744A | Lonnie Johnson/Victoria Spivey | "Toothache Blues" | October 17, 1928 |
8744B | Lonnie Johnson/Victoria Spivey | "Toothache Blues #2" | October 18, 1928 |
78 rpm singles - Victor Records
23349 | Victoria Spivey | "Baulin Water Blues" | June 26, 1930 |
23349 | Victoria Spivey | "Baulin Water Blues" (second version) | June 26, 1930 |
38546 | Victoria Spivey | "Moaning the Blues" | October 1, 1929 |
38546 | Victoria Spivey | "Telephoning the Blues" | October 1, 1929 |
38570 | Victoria Spivey | "Bloodhound Blues" | October 1, 1929 |
38570 | Victoria Spivey | "Dirty Tee Be Blues" | October 1, 1929 |
38584 | Victoria Spivey | "New York Blues" | February 4, 1930 |
38584 | Victoria Spivey | "Showered With the Blues" | February 4, 1930 |
38598 | Victoria Spivey | "Haunted by the Blues" | February 4, 1930 |
38598 | Victoria Spivey | "Lonesome With the Blues" | February 4, 1930 |
38609 | Victoria Spivey | "You've Gotta Have What It Takes" | June 26, 1930 |
38609 | Victoria Spivey | "You've Gotta Have What It Takes" (second version) | June 26, 1930 |
See also
- Classic female blues
- List of blues musicians
- List of classic female blues singers
- List of country blues musicians
- List of vaudeville performers: L–Z
- Spivey Records
References
- ^ a b "Victoria Spivey Papers". Emory Libraries. June 9, 2006. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
- ^ "MC 057: Guide to the Victoria Spivey Collection, 1925–1940, 1961–1976, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University". Scc.rutgers.edu. October 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ISBN 0195387953
- ^ a b c Skelly, Richard. "Victoria Spivey: Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved March 2, 2012.
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b c d e "Victoria Spivey". Thebluestrail.com. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
- ^ Spivey, Victoria (2006-06-09). "Victoria Spivey papers, circa 1960-1976". findingaids.library.emory.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-29.
- ^ "Elton Island Spivey: Biography". AllMusic. June 25, 1971. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ^ ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ISBN 0-8135-1280-8.
- ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
- ^ Gray, Michael (2006). The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia. pp. 630–631
- ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'n' Roll Years. London: Reed International Books. p. 293. CN 5585.
- ^ "Smithsonian Folkways, Music Down Home: An Introduction to Negro Folk Music, U.S.A." Folkways.si.edu. 2013-03-20. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
- ^ "Smithsonian Folkways, The Blues Is Life". Folkways.si.edu. 2013-03-20. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
- ^ "Smithsonian Folkways, Classic Piano Blues from Smithsonian Folkways". Folkways.si.edu. 2013-03-20. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2015-08-30.
Bibliography
- Cohn, Lawrence, ed. (1993). Nothing but the Blues: The Music and the Musicians. New York: Abbeville Publishing Group. ISBN 1-55859-271-7.
External links
- Victoria Spivey's record label Archived 2020-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Guide to the Victoria Spivey Collection, 1925-1940, 1961-1976, Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University - Newark
- Victoria Spivey papers, circa 1960–1976, Emory University Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
- Victoria Spivey (1908-1976) on Red Hot Jazz Archive
- Illustrated Spivey Records discography Stefan Wirz
- Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Victoria Spivey papers, circa 1960-1976
- 1960 interview with Paul Oliver