Bea Booze
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Bea Booze
| image = Wee Bea Booze.jpg
| birth_name = Beatrice Booze
| birth_date = {{birth date|1912|3|23|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Baltimore, Maryland, United States
| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|11|11|1912|3|23|mf=y}}
| death_place = Scottsville, New York, United States
| occupation = Singer, musician
| instrument = Vocals, guitar
| years_active = 1930s–1950s
| label = Decca
| past_member_of = Sammy Price, Andy Kirk
}}
Bea Booze (March 23, 1912 – November 11, 1986), often credited as Wee Bea Booze, was an American R&B and jazz singer most popular in the 1940s. She was one of the few female blues guitarists of that time.
Biography
She was born Beatrice BoozePaulus, George; Campbell, Robert; Pruter, Robert. [http://campber.people.clemson.edu/ebony.html Ebony, Chicago, Southern, and Harlem: The Mayo Williams Indies] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090622191207/http://campber.people.clemson.edu/ebony.html |date=June 22, 2009 }} Retrieved September 22, 2014 in Baltimore, the daughter of Phillip and Lydia Booze.{{cite web|url=http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?rank=1&new=1&MSAV=1&msT=1&gss=angs-g&gsfn=beatrice&gsfn_x=XO&gsln=booze&gsln_x=XO&msbdy=1912&msddy=1986&cpxt=0&catBucket=rst&uidh=jq5&cp=0&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=38805522&db=1920usfedcen&indiv=1&ml_rpos=3 |website=Ancestry.com|title=1920 United States Federal Census, Baltimore Ward 17, Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland; Roll T625_663|page=5B|quotation=Enumeration District 296; Image 145}} She made her name as a singer in Harlem, New York. Booze was signed by Decca Records to cover the songs and emulate the style of Lil GreenHarris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (rev. ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. p. 61. {{ISBN|0-306-80155-8}}. and, under the guidance of Sammy Price, first recorded in 1942.{{cite book|title=The Guinness Who's Who of Blues|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1995|edition=Second|isbn=0-85112-673-1|page=48}} Her version of "See See Rider Blues", first recorded by Ma Rainey, reached number 1 on the US Billboard R&B chart, after which she was billed as the "See See Rider Blues Girl". In addition to singing, she played guitar in performance and on many of her recordings.
Later in the 1940s, Booze recorded as a jazz vocalist with the Andy Kirk band, which featured the trumpeter Fats Navarro, and also with a jazz quartet that included the saxophonist George Kelly and the organist Larry Johnson.
She retired from the music industry in the early 1950s, and settled in Baltimore and later in Scottsville, New York, although she recorded with Sammy Price in 1962. She died in Scottsville in 1986.
Confusion with Muriel Nichols
For reasons that remain undocumented, the producer J. Mayo Williams, who knew Booze from his time with Decca, released a version of "See See Rider" sung by Muriel Nichols for his Harlem label as number 1003 in 1945, credited to "Muriel (Bea Booze) Nichols". Nichols, born in Philadelphia in 1908, was a different singer, but this led to the false belief, reported in many sources, that Booze's real name was Muriel Nichols. However, Booze was listed in the 1920 US census as a seven-year-old child, born in Baltimore, Maryland, on March 23, 1912.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p232582/biography|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic]
- [http://www.honkingduck.com/discography/artist/bea_booze Discography]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booze, Bea}}
Category:20th-century African-American women singers
Category:American jazz singers
Category:American women jazz singers
Category:American rhythm and blues guitarists
Category:American rhythm and blues singers
Category:Apollo Records artists
Category:Decca Records artists
Category:African-American guitarists
Category:20th-century American singers
Category:20th-century American guitarists