Hill, Chippie (Bertha)

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Hill, Chippie (Bertha)

Hill, Chippie (Bertha), blues/jazz singer; b. Charleston, S.C., March 15, 1905; d. May 7, 1950. She was one of 16 children. She began her professional career as a dancer at LeRoy’s in Harlem (1916) and later toured as a singer and dancer with Ma Rainey’s troupe. She worked as a solo act on T.O.B.A., circuit before settling in Chicago (ca. 1925). She made many recordings, accompanied by Louis Armstrong, Richard M. Jones, Lonnie Johnson, etc. She worked regularly in Chicago clubs and theatres until 1930, then left full-time music to raise her seven children. During the 1930s and early 1940s she occasionally sang in Chicago theatres, and also did long residency at the Club DeLisa. She was working in a bakery when she was rediscovered by writer Rudi Blesh in 1946. She then became a club favorite in Chicago and N.Y, as well as touring Europe. She was knocked down and killed by a car in Harlem.

—John Chilton/Lewis Porter