Hociel Thomas (July 10, 1904 – August 22, 1952) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

singer and pianist in the

classic female blues Classic female blues was an early form of blues music, popular in the 1920s. An amalgam of traditional folk blues and urban theater music, the style is also known as vaudeville blues. Classic blues were performed by female singers accompanied by ...

style.

Early life

Born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, United States, her father,

George Washington Thomas George Washington Thomas Jr. (March 9, 1883 – March 6, 1937)
Retrieved 4 December 2016

, was a musician, songwriter, and music publisher. Harris, Sheldon (1994). ''Blues Who's Who'' (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. . p. 507 Around 1916, she relocated to

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, to live with her aunt, the blues singer

Sippie Wallace Sippie Wallace (born Beulah Belle Thomas; November 1, 1898 – November 1, 1986) was an American blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Her early career in tent shows gained her the billing "The Texas Nightingale". Between 1923 and 1927, she recor ...

. She began performing, often with Sippie Wallace, at local parties and in Storyville, the city's red-light district.

Career

She moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, in about 1924 and worked in local clubs and theatres there until the early 1930s. In 1925, she recorded for

Gennett Records Gennett Records () was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s and produced the Gennett, Starr, Champion, Superior, and Van Speaking labels. The company also produced some Supertone, ...

, and in 1925–26 she recorded several sides for the

Okeh OKeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name originally was spelled "OkeH" from the init ...

label, and—along with vocalist

Lillie Delk Christian Lillie Delk Christian (born Lillie Delk) was an early 20th-century American early-jazz singer and recording star. Early life Lillie Delk was born, and spent her early years, in Mobile, Alabama. Born sometime after the turn of the twentieth cen ...

—released ''Last Night I Dreamed You Kissed Me''. Her accompanists on the Okeh recordings included her teenaged uncle

Hersal Thomas Hersal Thomas (September 9, 1906 – June 2, 1926) was an American blues pianist and composer. He recorded a number of sides for Okeh Records in 1925 and 1926. Thomas was born in Houston, Texas, United States, and displayed an early talent ...

, whose piano is heard on "Fish Tail Dance", and

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

. and four other sides. During the years of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

her career diminished, and she worked outside music. In the early 1940s, she moved to

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. In 1946, she recorded seven songs as pianist and vocalist with

Mutt Carey Thomas "Papa Mutt" Carey (September 17, 1891 – September 3, 1948) was an American jazz trumpeter. Early life Carey was born in Hahnville, Louisiana, and moved to New Orleans with his family in his youth. His older brother Jack Carey was a t ...

for the

Circle A circle is a shape consisting of all point (geometry), points in a plane (mathematics), plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the Centre (geometry), centre. The distance between any point of the circle and the centre is cal ...

label, which were her last recordings. She worked with

Kid Ory Edward "Kid" Ory (December 25, 1886 – January 23, 1973) was an American jazz composer, Trombone, trombonist and bandleader. One of the early users of the glissando technique, he helped establish it as a central element of Music of New Orle ...

's Orchestra in San Francisco In 1948. In 1948 or 1949, she engaged in a brawl with one of her sisters, in which she lost her eyesight and her sister was killed. Charged with manslaughter, she was tried and acquitted. Harris, Sheldon (1994). ''Blues Who's Who'' (Revised Ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. . p. 508 She died of heart disease on August 22, 1952. She is buried in

Greenlawn Memorial Park Greenlawn may refer to: * Greenlawn, Missouri * Greenlawn, New York * Greenlawn (Middletown, Delaware), a historic house * Greenlawn (Amite City, Louisiana), a historic mansion * Greenlawn Ltd., a Canadian lawn services company that does busines ...

in Colma, California.

References

External links

Biography and audio at The Red Hot Jazz Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Hociel 1904 births 1952 deaths Classic female blues singers Gennett Records artists Okeh Records artists Musicians from Houston Musicians from New Orleans Musicians from Oakland, California Singers from Louisiana 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers Singers from New Orleans Blues musicians from New Orleans