Edna Hicks
Edna Hicks (October 14, 1895 – August 16, 1925)[1] was an American blues singer and musician.[2] Her recorded song include "Hard Luck Blues" and "Poor Me Blues".[1] She also recorded "Down Hearted Blues", and "Gulf Coast Blues" on the Brunswick label in 1923.
She was born Edna Landreaux in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was the half-sister of Lizzie Miles.[1] She is believed to have moved north in her mid-teens.[3] She was popular in black vaudeville in the American Midwest in the late 1910s and 1920s, appeared often in Chicago and Cincinnati, and made recordings for seven different record labels in 1923 and 1924: Victor, Vocalion, Columbia, Gennett, Brunswick, Ajax, and Paramount. Her most frequent accompanist was Fletcher Henderson; some of her recordings featured accompaniment by Porter Grainger and Lemuel Fowler.[2]
In August 1925, while assisting her husband in filling their automobile's gasoline tank, she was burned after splashed gasoline was ignited by a candle she was holding. She died in a Chicago hospital two days later, on August 16,[4] at the age of 29.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 Thedeadrockstarsclub.com – accessed September 2011
- 1 2 3 Lewis, Uncle Dave. "Biography". Allmusic.com. Retrieved September 2, 2011.
- ↑ Harris, 1994, p. 227.
- ↑ "Edna Hicks Perishes in Fire", Chicago Defender (national edition), August 22, 1925.
Bibliography
- Harris, Sheldon (1994). Blues Who's Who (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80155-8