[1] She grew up in Gulfport where she sang in the Mount Holy Baptist Church, before moving to New York City in 1932.

[5] The following year, her accompanists also included trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, saxophonist Don Byas and pianist Sammy Price.

[6] She was promoted at the time as the "New Queen of the Blues",[7] and toured widely with Blanche Calloway, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Tiny Bradshaw and the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra.

One of her last recordings with Price in February 1949 was a rocking R&B number, "Hole in the Wall", co-written by record producer Milt Gabler and featuring the line "we're going to rock and roll at the Hole in the Wall tonight", a notably early use of the phrase.

[8][9][10] Following an onstage fall in the early 1950s, she had to use a crutch at her club performances, and shortly afterwards retired from the music business.