Midge Williams born 27 May 1915

Virginia Louise "Midge" Williams (May 27, 1915 – January 9, 1952) was an African-American swing and jazz vocalist during the 1930s and 1940s. Largely forgotten today, and although not as famous as other jazz recording artists, Midge Williams was a popular and talented singer. 

Born while her parents were on a trip in Portland, Oregon, Williams was known by her nickname "Midge" to distinguish her from her mother, also named Virginia Louise. Her father was John Williams. Midge spent her early years in the African American agricultural community of Allensworth, California, United States, in Tulare County. Allensworth had problems with arsenic in the groundwater supply, and many residents had to leave, including the Williams family. Virginia moved with her children (Midge, John Lewis Jr, Charles and Robert) to Oakland in 1925, and later Berkeley, California. 

Sometime in the mid-1920s they began singing as the "Williams Quartette" in Bay Area churches and theaters. They caught the attention of Peggy O'Neill of the Fanchon and Marco stage productions organization, who taught them to dance. Renamed "The Williams Four", they began touring West Coast theaters with Fanchon and Marco/the organization in the summer of 1928. 

In 1933, Roger Segure, a young music student and pianist told Virginia Williams that he would like to manage "The Williams Four". She agreed, and he obtained a contract for "The Williams Four" to appear at the exclusive Canidrome in Shanghai, China. From a successful appearance there, they went to Japan, where they appeared at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo and at the Florida Dance Hall. In February 1934, Midge made the first recordings of her career for Columbia records' Japanese division. She recorded 5 songs, including Dinah, Lazy Bones and St. Louis Blues singing in both English and Japanese. The group returned to the West Coast in mid-1934, but tragically Charles Williams died of an accidental gunshot wound, and the quartet disbanded. 

                                   

Midge decided to pursue a solo career, under Segure's management. Midge took up residence in Berkeley, and in the summer of 1935 became a regular performer on the radio program Blue Monday Jamboree. In early 1936 she met Al Jolson, and sang on his Shell Chateau radio program.  In the spring of 1936, Midge Williams and her manager went to New York, were Midge debuted at the Apollo. During her time in that city she was a guest artist on a number of coast-to-coast radio shows. She also had a series of fifteen minute weekly or twice-weekly radio shows of her own and appeared on thirty-five sides of records she made for various record labels, including songs with her band the Jazz Jesters. 

Members of the band included Raymond Scott, Frankie Newton, Buster Bailey, and Charlie Shavers other musicians she worked with included Bunny Berigan, Ben Webster, Teddy Wilson, Harry James, Glenn Miller, Raymond Scott, Buster Bailey, John Kirby, and Lil Armstrong. Roger Segure and the famed poet Langston Hughes collaborated to write two songs for Midge, one of which, Night Time, served as her radio program's theme song. Midge also performed at benefits and participated in the social life of Harlem. In early 1937, she did a weekly series of songs for the NBC Red Network. In March 1938, Midge joined Louis Armstrong's troupe and toured with him until January 1941. Leaving him for a hospital bed in Detroit, Midge eventually recovered, but newspaper reports of her working again did not appear until early in 1942 in Chicago. 

By July 1942, she was back in New York and in September was reported singing on the radio. The last appearance of her name in the New York Amsterdam News occurred on July 1, 1943. She appeared at the Citizen's Christmas Cheer benefit performance on November 19, 1944, at the Renaissance Ballroom & Casino alongside Ella Fitzgerald, Savannah Churchill, June Hawkins and Mabel Hart. Columnist Ted Yates reported that Midge Williams quit Tondaleyo's Niteclub "in a huff" in early December 1944. On April 17, 1946, she sang Cow-Cow Boogie on the Jack Webb radio show and was apparently in good voice. This was her last known recording. From early June through October 1946, Midge appeared at Mona's 440 Club, the first lesbian bar in San Francisco. 

On December 16, 1950, The San Francisco Examiner reported that she had joined the revue at Shirley Corlett's Longbar Showboat and Breakfast Club on Fillmore Street. Unfortunately, the club closed three months later. Over a year later on January 9, 1952, Midge Williams passed away from tuberculosis at the San Francisco General Hospital. Today, her ashes rest high on a shelf in the California Room of the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Oakland Library Organization)