Sippie Wallace
b. Beulah Thomas, 1 November 1898, Houston, Texas, USA, d. 1 November 1986, Detroit, Michigan, USA. Blues singer Sippie Wallace was a sister to Hersaland George Thomas (both piano players of some renown), and an aunt of George's blues singing daughter Hociel Thomas. Beulah left Houston to join George in Chicago in 1923 and recorded her first single, Up The Country Blues in October of that year. It was a hit and led to an career that, intermittently, spanned four decades. Her initial period of success on record and in vaudeville came to a close when she moved to Detroit in 1929 to work in the church. Sippie did not work in music again until 1937 when she sang with Jimmy Noone's Orchestra. After the war, in 1946, she recorded again and later began working on the revived blues circuit playing colleges and clubs. In 1966 she toured Europe with the AFBF. In 1983 she saw her last album nominated for a Grammy award.