Neliska Ann Briscoe (April 7, 1914 – August 25, 1994) was an American dancer, jazz band leader, and businesswoman.
[1] Briscoe's career as an entertainer began at about the age of nine when she performed in a club where her uncle, Escaliere Thomas, was employed part-time in the evenings.
Pianist Joe Robichaux hired her to lead his band, the New Orleans Rhythm Boys, a group consisting at times of up to fifteen members, including three women: Briscoe, Joan Lunceford (singer), and Ann Cooper (trumpet).
Dressed in what became her trademark tuxedo, Briscoe worked as a tap dancer, entertaining the crowd in front of Robichaux's band during and between musical sets.
Following her two-year tour with the Harlem Playgirls, Briscoe returned to New Orleans, where she met a merchant mariner named David "Val" Mouton.
The marriage ceremony was performed by Briscoe's half-brother Joseph Mitchell at the Christian Mission Baptist Church he co-founded in New Orleans.
To commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death, her daughters set up the Baby Briscoe Scholarship Fund at Tulane University.