Julia Lee (musician)
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Julia Lee (October 31, 1902 – December 8, 1958)Death Certificate
at Missouri Digital Heritage Initiative.
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 ...
and
dirty blues Dirty blues (also known as bawdy blues) is a form of blues music that deals with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Because of the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from rad ...
musician. Her most commercially successful number was the US ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' R&B
chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...
topping hit " (Opportunity Knocks But Once) Snatch and Grab It" in 1947. She is best known for her trademark
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
songs.


Biography

Julia Lee was born in
Boonville, Missouri Boonville is a city and the county seat of Cooper County, Missouri, United States. The population was 7,964 at the 2020 census. The city was the site of a skirmish early in the American Civil War, Civil War, on July 17, 1861. Union forces defeat ...
into a family of musicians: her father George E. Lee, Sr. was a violinist and a leader of a string band, and her older brother, George, Jr., was a saxophone player and a singer. Lee was raised in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
(her death certificate also lists it as a place of birth). There is also a confusion with the year of birth: most sources state that Julia was born in 1902, while her gravestone indicates 1903, so does also the death certificate.


Education

Lee attended Attucks Elementary School, and Lincoln High (graduated in 1917). Her initial musical training occurred in the family; she obtained her piano at the age of 10 and had gifted
ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...
pianists including Charlie Watts and Scrap Harris as her tutors. Lee continued her education with formal music studies at the Western University, a
historically black college Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...
in Quindaro, Kansas.


Musical career

While studying, still in her early teens, Lee was a vocalist with a local band. ( Walter Page was playing the
string bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
there). She started a 15-year period of working together with her brother, George E. Lee, Jr., in 1918, when they had formed a trio (with a hired drummer) upon George's discharge from the Army (where he played the piano and saxophone in a band). In the 1920s, George formed his Novelty Singing Orchestra, the second most prominent band in Kansas City (after
Bennie Moten Benjamin Moten (November 13, 1893 – April 2, 1935) was an American jazz pianist and band leader born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, United States. He led his Kansas City Orchestra, the most important of the regional, blues-based orchest ...
's). The band, whose name possibly reflected the Novelty Club it was playing at, not the genre, was active through the early 1930s, when
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz Saxophone, saxophonist, bandleader, and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of beb ...
did a brief stint there. Lee was singing and playing piano in this orchestra. Julia's first known recording is with the Meritt Records label in 1927, where she played piano in George's orchestra. (It is possible that two records of Julia were made in 1923 in Chicago by
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 ...
, but never released.) This recording did nothing to advance Julia's career. Her first success came with a November 1929 recording at
Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...
with Jesse Stone as pianist and arranger for the Novelty Singing Orchestra. Julia sang "He's Tall Dark and Handsome" and "Won't You Come Over to My House" in her sexy, coquettish voice and played piano with flamboyancy. George briefly merged his band with Moten's in 1932 (Julia at this time shared the piano duties with
Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...
), but re-formed it on its own in 1933, with Julia and George parting ways soon thereafter. In 1934, during 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 ...
, Lee, who disliked touring after suffering from a major car crash in 1930, started performing at Milton's Tap Room, a then-new white nightclub, and stayed there until 1950, with only brief appearances in Chicago at Offbeat Club, Silver Frolics, Downbeat Club, and performances in New York at
Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...
(May 1948), Los Angeles (
Million Dollar Theater The Million Dollar Theatre at 307 S. Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles is one of the first movie palaces built in the United States. It opened in 1917 with the premiere of William S. Hart's '' The Silent Man''. It's the northernmost of the col ...
, September 1948). Dave Dexter Jr., who became familiar with Lee's talent while living in Kansas City, joined
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
soon after its inception in 1942, and on November 1, 1944, supervised the first Lee's record with this label at Vic Damon's studio in Kansas City (Lee sang the remakes of "Come On Over to My House" and " Trouble in Mind"). The Capitol recordings did not catch on initially, and Lee moved on to H. S. (Bert) Somson's short-lived Premier label with a few songs, the most notable being the "Lotus Blossom" (also known as "Marijuana"). In mid 1946, Lee's Capitol recordings of 1944 became popular among the DJs, so in August Dexter signed her for Capitol and brought her to Hollywood (on the way she and her drummer Samuel "Baby" Lovett wrote "Gotta Gimme Whatcha Got") for the first Capital recording credited to 'Julia Lee and Her Boy Friends'. The session musicians included, at different times, the "top-flight" talent:
Jay McShann James Columbus "Jay" McShann (January 12, 1916 – December 7, 2006) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. He led bands in Kansas City, Missouri, that included Charlie Parker, Bernard Anderson, Walter Brown, and B ...
,
Vic Dickenson Victor Dickenson (August 6, 1906 – November 16, 1984) was an American jazz trombonist. His career began in the 1920s and continued through musical partnerships with Count Basie (1940–41), Sidney Bechet (1941), and Earl Hines. Life and car ...
,
Benny Carter Bennett Lester Carter (August 8, 1907 – July 12, 2003) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. With Johnny Hodges, he was a pioneer on the alto saxophone. From the beginning of his career ...
,
Red Norvo Red Norvo (born Kenneth Norville; March 31, 1908 – April 6, 1999) was an American musician, one of jazz's early vibraphonists, known as "Mr. Swing". He helped establish the xylophone, marimba, and vibraphone as jazz instruments. His recor ...
, Nappy Lamare,
Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...
, and
Jack Marshall Sir John Ross Marshall New Zealand Army Orders 1952/405 (5 March 1912 – 30 August 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He entered Parliament in 1946 and was first promoted to Cabinet in 1951. After spending twelve years ...
. The November 1947 recording session at Capitol generated new popularity with hits such as " King Size Papa" (No. 1 R&B for nine weeks, 1948) and "I Didn't Like It the First Time (The Spinach Song)." (This is when Lee's manager, Johnny Tumino, booked her for gigs in New York and Los Angeles.) Lee sang "King Size Papa" at a
White House Correspondents' Association The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) is an organization of journalists who cover the White House and the president of the United States. The WHCA was founded on February 25, 1914, by journalists in response to an unfounded rumor ...
dinner on March 5, 1949, before
President Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th Vice president of the United States, vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Frank ...
. At Christmas-time 1948, Capitol released "Christmas Spirits" (with its holiday depression theme and risqué "Santa ... I could go for your long
ause Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language. While Australia has no official language, Engl ...
whiskers." The song peaked at number 16 in the R&B chart in January 1949). Lee's last hit was "You Ain't Got It No More" (number 9 in November 1949), subsequent recording sessions that lasted into early 1950s failed to achieve success or show development. "Julia remained a hometown girl." There are multiple explanations of this, from criminal connections of Milton Morris causing lack of out-of-town performances, to Lee's dislike of travel (she once said that she could only travel if she "can keep one foot on the ground"), to her being just a consistently good singer, bound to eventually start repeating herself, to lack of desire to go the distance (she once stated "If you are not happy, there is no percentage in the big money"). Dexter said that if Lee were able to get on records sooner, she would have turned into one of the most popular American singers (Dexter produced both
Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, alternatively billed as Nat "King" Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's career as a jazz and Traditional pop, pop ...
and
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
): "How much more effective might she have been had she recorded as a young woman." Lee's last recording session with Capitol yielded "Goin' to Chicago Blues" (1952). Later records were with smaller labels: Damon Records (two singles, with more material possibly lost after Vic Damon's death), and Foremost in 1957. Lee continued to sing (in Cuban Room in Kansas City), and, in 1955, made an appearance in '' The Delinquents'', a film by then little-known
Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...
.


Personal life

Lee married Frank Duncan, a star catcher and manager of the Negro National League's
Kansas City Monarchs The Kansas City Monarchs were the longest-running franchise in the history of baseball's Negro leagues. Operating in Kansas City, Missouri, and owned by J. L. Wilkinson, they were charter members of the Negro National League from 1920 to 193 ...
, also a native of Kansas City, in 1919. Lee frequently performed in all-white nightclubs, and Duncan had to sit with the orchestra, pretending to be a musician, in order to see her performing there. The marriage lasted for nine years; their only son, pitcher Frank Duncan III, played alongside his father in 1941, and they are thought to have been the first father-son battery in professional baseball history. After a divorce from Duncan, Lee married Johnny Thomas around 1927. This marriage lasted two years. She had no more children. According to Dave Dexter Jr., he coined the name for Lee's band, 'Her Boy Friends', after a succession of men in her life that won her affections and took her money.


Death

Julia Lee died in her home in Kansas City during an afternoon nap, on December 8, 1958, at the age of 56, from a heart attack. Her passing did not attract much attention, being somewhat eclipsed by the deaths of
Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...
and
Art Tatum Arthur Tatum Jr. (, October 13, 1909 – November 5, 1956) was an American jazz pianist who is widely regarded as one of the greatest ever. From early in his career, fellow musicians acclaimed Tatum's technical ability as extraordinary. Tatum a ...
.


Records

Lee is best known for her trademark
double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...
songs, or, as she once said, "the songs my mother taught me not to sing".


1929

Brunswick Records Brunswick Records is an American record label founded in 1916. History 1916–1929 Records under the Brunswick label were first produced by the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, a company based in Dubuque, Iowa which had been manufacturing ...
with George Lee' Novelty Singling Orchestra (recorded in November 1929, re-released in 1930 with Julia's name): * "He's Tall, Dark and Handsome" * "Won't You Come Over to My House"


1944

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
(November 1): * "Come on Over To My House" * "Trouble in Mind"


1945

Premier Records: * "Lotus Blossom"


1946

Capitol Records (August): * "Gotta Gimme Whatcha Got" (number 3 R&B in 1946) * "Lies" * "When a Woman Loves a Man" * "Have You Ever Been Lonely" * "Oh! Marie" * "I'll Get Along Somehow" (number 5 R&B in May 1947) * " (Opportunity Knocks But Once) Snatch and Grab It" (number 1 R&B in 1947)


1947

Capitol Records (November): * " Charmaine" * "
I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is a popular American song written in 1918, released in late 1919, becoming a number one hit for Ben Selvin's Novelty Orchestra. It has been revived and adapted over the years, serving as the anthem of Premier Lea ...
" * "Pagan Love Song" * " King Size Papa" * "Take It or Leave It" * "That's What I Like" * "I Didn't Like It the First Time" * "Tell Me Daddy"


1948

Capitol Records: * "Christmas Spirits" (number 16 R&B in January 1949)


1949

Capitol Records: * "Tonight's the Night" * "My Man Stands Out" * "Do You Want It?" * "Don't Come Too Soon" (''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
s reaction: "Lyrics is certainly too blue for airing, and juke ops ... should listen carefully before installing") * "Don't Save It Too Long" * "It Comes in Like a Lion (and It Goes Out Like a Lamb)" (Capitol decided not to release it) * "You Ain't Got It No More" (number 9 R&B in November 1949)


1952

Capitol Records: * "Going To Chicago Blues" * "Last Call For Alcohol"


1953

Damon Records: * "Scat You Cats" * "I Can't See How"


1957

Foremost Records: * "Bop and Rock Lullaby" * "King Size Papa" * "Saturday Night"


References


Sources

* *


External links

* *
African American Registry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Julia 1902 births 1958 deaths People from Boonville, Missouri African-American pianists American blues singers American blues pianists Dirty blues musicians Jump blues musicians Singers from Missouri Capitol Records artists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women pianists