Bertha "Chippie" Hill
b. 15 March 1905, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, d. 7 May 1950, New York City, New York, USA. Bertha Hill was in show business as a singer and dancer aged 14, when she claimed to have stolen the show from Ethel Waters. Nicknamed for her youth and smallness, she settled in Chicago in the '20s. Her dark, hard voice was especially suited to blues, and good trumpeters seemed to inspire her; her finest recordings are those with Joe ‘King’ Oliver and Louis Armstrong. She retired in the late '20s on her marriage, but was persuaded to return to singing and recording for the growing white jazz audience in the mid-40s. Still a fine singer, she was a hit at the 1948 Paris Jazz Festival, but a promising second career was ended by a hit and run driver.