Bertha "Chippie" Hill (March 15, 1905 – May 7, 1950), was an American blues… Read Full Bio ↴Bertha "Chippie" Hill (March 15, 1905 – May 7, 1950), was an American blues and vaudeville singer and dancer, best known for her recordings with Louis Armstrong.
Hill was born in Charleston, South Carolina, one of sixteen children, but in 1915 the family moved to New York. She began her career as a dancer in Harlem, and by 1919 was working with Ethel Waters. At age 14, during a stint at Leroy's, a noted New York nightclub, Hill was nicknamed "Chippie" because of her young age.[3] She also performed with Ma Rainey as part of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, before establishing her own song and dance act and touring on the TOBA circuit in the early 1920s.
She settled in Chicago in about 1925, and worked at various venues with King Oliver's Jazz Band. She first recorded in November 1925 for Okeh Records, backed by the cornet player Louis Armstrong and pianist Richard M. Jones, on songs such as "Pratt City Blues", "Low Land Blues" and "Kid Man Blues" that year, and on "Georgia Man" and "Trouble in Mind" with the same musicians in 1926. She also recorded in 1927, with Lonnie Johnson on the vocal duet, "Hard Times Blues", plus "Weary Money Blues", "Tell Me Why" and "Speedway Blues". In 1928, came the Tampa Red vocal duets, "Hard Times Blues" and "Christmas Man Blues", and in 1929 with "Scrapper" Blackwell & The Two Roys, with Leroy Carr on piano, the song "Non-skid Tread". Hill recorded 23 titles between 1925 to 1929.
In the 1930s she retired from singing to raise her seven children. Hill staged a comeback in 1946 with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, and recorded for Rudi Blesh's Circle label. She began appearing on radio and in clubs and concerts in New York, including in 1948 the Carnegie Hall concert with Kid Ory, and she sang at the Paris Jazz Festival, and worked with Art Hodes in Chicago.
She was back again in 1950, when she was run over by a car and killed in New York at the age of 45. She is buried at the Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois.
Hill was born in Charleston, South Carolina, one of sixteen children, but in 1915 the family moved to New York. She began her career as a dancer in Harlem, and by 1919 was working with Ethel Waters. At age 14, during a stint at Leroy's, a noted New York nightclub, Hill was nicknamed "Chippie" because of her young age.[3] She also performed with Ma Rainey as part of the Rabbit Foot Minstrels, before establishing her own song and dance act and touring on the TOBA circuit in the early 1920s.
She settled in Chicago in about 1925, and worked at various venues with King Oliver's Jazz Band. She first recorded in November 1925 for Okeh Records, backed by the cornet player Louis Armstrong and pianist Richard M. Jones, on songs such as "Pratt City Blues", "Low Land Blues" and "Kid Man Blues" that year, and on "Georgia Man" and "Trouble in Mind" with the same musicians in 1926. She also recorded in 1927, with Lonnie Johnson on the vocal duet, "Hard Times Blues", plus "Weary Money Blues", "Tell Me Why" and "Speedway Blues". In 1928, came the Tampa Red vocal duets, "Hard Times Blues" and "Christmas Man Blues", and in 1929 with "Scrapper" Blackwell & The Two Roys, with Leroy Carr on piano, the song "Non-skid Tread". Hill recorded 23 titles between 1925 to 1929.
In the 1930s she retired from singing to raise her seven children. Hill staged a comeback in 1946 with Lovie Austin's Blues Serenaders, and recorded for Rudi Blesh's Circle label. She began appearing on radio and in clubs and concerts in New York, including in 1948 the Carnegie Hall concert with Kid Ory, and she sang at the Paris Jazz Festival, and worked with Art Hodes in Chicago.
She was back again in 1950, when she was run over by a car and killed in New York at the age of 45. She is buried at the Lincoln Cemetery, Blue Island, Cook County, Illinois.
Pratt City Blues
Bertha "Chippie" Hill Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Pratt City Blues' by these artists:
B.Hill A tree chopped down in a losing battle Fearing flame but…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Bertha "Chippie" Hill:
Lovesick Blues I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love with a girl, That's…
Trouble in Mind Trouble in mind, I am blue But I won't be blue…
Trouble In My Mind Blues Trouble in mind, I am blue But I won't be blue…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@hotrhod4694
this is wonderful . I have it on a double album called History of the Blues which starts with Frau Frau tribesmen playing and singing what can only be described as Blues complete with a 2-string fiddle
@michaelkavanagh4539
hotrhod46 Not being sexist or any thing that but it's the Fra Fra tribesmen.Exactly as it was since the late sixties when a wealthy sweetheart who bought the two LP set one day on one those days when we went on the bounce from school again.She presented it to me in Steven's Green in Dublin eating our sandwiches and drinking our flasks of tea.Frau as I'm sure you know is the German word for woman.Don't let those tribesmen catch you!
@ampjackson2
this is a great post! Pratt City is a area in Birmingham, AL. This is also the same area that was devastated by an F5 tornado 4/27/11. And its also where Im from. Peace to PRATT CITY!!!! We go make it thru people!
@FUUUZZZY
PrattCityAmp Thank you so much for that. I was born in Pratt City. I did have an in-law killed by the tornado in 22011,but none of my immediate family was affected. Though a lot of damage, it has rebounded in a way that is truly amazing. My nick name is Plukie.
@jermaineclark5364
Pratt City checking in
@fillra
Thankyou, cdbpdx. Brilliant. February 23-24, 1926, Chicago, Illinois Recorded for OKeh records. Bertha "Chippie" Hill (Vocal) Louis Armstrong (Cornet) Richard M. Jones (Piano) Lots more Louis and early jazz at 'redhotjazz'. Also a discography at 'michaelminn armstrong', and the excellent 'dippermouth blog' from Ricky Riccardi, who is the Project Archivist at the Louis Armstrong House and Museum in Queen's, New York.
@JuanFecit
Muchas gracias por compartirlo.
@brianmartin9868
Louis is playing cornet here. I have always like the cornet more than the trumpet. I think it was around this time he switched to trumpet. Were all the Hot Five & Hot Seven records played on the trumpet. I would like to pin down the precise date of Statchmo's switch over
@davidweinstock4977
richard m jones was no slouch either. he wrote 'trouble in mind', one of the great blues songs