Viola Gertrude Wells

[1] The book Swing City: Newark Nightlife, 1925-50 by Barbara J. Kukla is dedicated to Viola Wells.

[3] When her mother died from giving birth to her sister Estelle, she briefly went to live with her maternal grandparents Rev.

[2] She started to sing in her church's Salika Johnson choir under the direction of her music and piano teacher, Ruth Reid.

WOR Radio in Newark invited her to sing on air to raise money for the first Black YMCA.

[4] Wells frequently sang at local Newark jazz clubs and eventually moved to Harlem to sing at nightclubs there.

[5] She began to sing at various New York City clubs (such as Harlem's Apollo Theater),[5] occasionally under the name "Viola Underhill".

She was brought out of retirement twice in her life; first, by blues historian Sheldon Harris who helped revive her career in the 1960s.