Saturday 11 June 2016

Bonnie Lee born 11 June 1931


Bonnie Lee (June 11, 1931 – September 7, 2006) was an American Chicago blues singer, known as "The Sweetheart of the Blues.“ She was a long-time fixture of Chicago's contemporary blues scene as well as one of the last surviving links to its post-war heyday. Many great blues artists have come from the Texas area but, arguably, none so adorable as Ms. Bonnie Lee. With a career that spanned more than fifty years, Lee stirred the mixture of jazz sophistication, deep rooted blues feeling and southern charm to come with a style that's was all her own. 

Born Jessie Lee Frealls on June 11, 1931, in Bunkie, LA, Lee grew up in Beaumont, TX, where she studied piano and sang in her church's choir. Gospel singer Lillian Ginn was sufficiently impressed to extend an invitation to join her on tour, but Lee's mother refused to grant her permission. As a teen Lee nevertheless toured the South as a member of the Famous Georgia Minstrels, befriending blues legends Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown and Big Mama Thornton along the way. 

She relocated to Chicago in 1958, hitching a ride with a delivery van driver and settling at the West Side apartment of an aunt. After toiling in anonymity as a singer and dancer, in 1960 Lee signed to J. Mayo Williams' Ebony label to cut her debut single, "Sad and Evil Woman," credited at Williams' insistence to Bonnie "Bombshell" Lane, a moniker she reportedly despised. The single fared poorly, and Lee continued touring the Chicago jazz and blues club circuit, developing a potent voice as earthy as it was electrifying.  

Family obligations forced her to retire from music during the middle of the decade, but in 1967 she resurfaced alongside the legendary pianist Sunnyland Slim, a longtime confederate of Muddy Waters. Lee regularly opened for Slim in the years that followed, becoming a legend on the North Side blues circuit via residencies at clubs including Wise Fools, B.L.U.E.S., and Blue Chicago.  
 
 
                              

In the late '70s, she also cut a handful of singles for Slim's own Airway label. In 1982, performing with Zora Young and Big Time Sarah as Blues with the Girls, she toured Europe, and they recorded an album in Paris.
 
In 1992 Lee performed on Magic Slim's album 44 Blues, with John Primer. Lee also enjoyed a decade-long collaboration with renowned bassist Willie Kent, during which time she recorded the 1995 Delmark LP Sweetheart of the Blues as well as the 1998 Wolf Records set I'm Good. In addition, she contributed to myriad compilations, most notably Women of Blue Chicago and Chicago's Finest Blues Ladies.
 
Health problems nevertheless plagued Lee throughout the latter half of her life, and she died in Chicago, Illinois, on September 7, 2006, at the age of 75. (Info edited from AMG)
 

4 comments:

boppinbob said...

Couldn’t find a full album of Bonnie Lee so
I put together a collection of mp3’s from YouTube here:

http://www86.zippyshare.com/v/W0OW0KYX/file.html

01 Bonnie Lee - Im Good.mp3
02 Bonnie Lee - You Got Me Runnin.mp3
03 Bonnie Lee - Baby What You Want Me To Do.mp3
04 Bonnie Lee - Early In The Morning.mp3
05 Bonnie Lee - Fast Life.mp3
06 Bonnie Lee - Give Me All Your Loving.mp3
07 Bonnie Lee - I Need Someone.mp3
08 Bonnie Lee - Ive Got a Man.mp3
09 Bonnie Lee - Next Time You See Me-.mp3
10 Bonnie Lee - Sad and evil woman .mp3
11 Bonnie Lee - Since I Fell For You.mp3
12 Bonnie Lee - Thats All Right.mp3
13 Bonnie Lee - Tryin To Make A Livin .mp3
14 Bonnie Lee - Walking Blues -.mp3
15 Bonnie Lee - What You Want Me To Do.mp3
16 Bonnie Lee - Whats The Matter.mp3

Bob said...

Probably worth of a re-up

boppinbob said...

Hello Bob,
Since this post which was nearly 7 years ago I have aquired two albums of Bonnie Lee.

So for” Bonnie Lee – Sweetheart Of The Blues” go here:

https://www.imagenetz.de/fTZUa

1. I'm Good
2. Fast Life
3. Summer Is Gone
4. Sad And Evil Woman
5. You Got Me Running
6. I Love You Baby
7. Tryin' To Make A Livin'
8. Got The Blues
9. Bye, Bye, Baby
10. I Need Someone
11. I've Got A Man
12. Baby, What You Want Me To Do 4:19
13. Walking Blues 3:46
14. I Love You Baby 3:41
15. That's All Right 5:35
16. I Need Your Love So Bad 4:55
17. Since I Fell For You 6:12
18. If You Be My Baby 4:31
19. Breakin' Up Somebody's Home 4:18
20. Ocean Of Tears 3:04
21. Got The Blues 'bout My Baby 6:35
22. Next Time You See Me 3:58
23. Change Your Mind 4:40
24. Give Me All Your Lovin' 3:32


This playlist combines two albums
I’m Good (1991) Tracks 1-11
Sweetheart Of The Blues (1995) Tracks 12-24

Also here’s the new link for the YouTube mp3’s

https://www.upload.ee/files/15250715/Bonnie_Lee_-_So_Good.rar.html

Bob said...

Thanks a lot !