RIP Sugar Pie DeSanto

I'm a little late to the memorial, time having been consumed by holiday travel, and then news of wildfires sweeping areas I just returned from, but just saw notice that at the end of the past year, we lost #SugarPieDeSanto

I was lucky I had the fortunate opportunity to see her perform memorable sets live a couple times earlier in this century in #SanFrancisco , and despite her age, she was still feisty, acrobatically bawdy & hilarious.

A relative of fellow #ChessRecords recording artist Etta James, and part Filipino (born Umpeylia Marsema Balinton ) ... , she was perhaps less renowned, but certainly worth checking out for any fans of authentic old school #RhythmandBlues music.

"I was one of the toughest women you would find, and a big mouth, and I didn’t take anything from no one,” she said in an interview in the 2011 book “Flying Saucers Rock ’n’ Roll: Conversations With Unjustly Obscure Rock ’n’ Soul Eccentrics”

I recall in more recent times, her being burned out in a 2006 fire that swept the apt building where she lived in #Oakland, and killed her husband.

But she was a tough cookie and soldiered on for many more years ...stay safe out there folks...

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/arts/music/sugar-pie-desanto-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.pk4.vem5.yVNsGkJu6sLE&smid=url-share #SharedLink #FreeLink #NYTimes #BluesMusic

#SugarPieDeSanto RIP

"electrifying R&B singer & songwriter" "also known for her jaw-dropping acrobatics onstage"

On touring w/ #JamesBrown in 1960s:

"“‘Now look here, Sugar,’ he’d say, ‘don’t you jump off no piano tonight,’” noting that Ms. DeSanto would join him onstage & the two sometimes ended the show by simultaneously jumping off the piano & landing in a split.

“I’d say, ‘Why not?,’ & he’d say, ‘Because you make me work too hard!’”"

#SoulMusic

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/arts/music/sugar-pie-desanto-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.k04.THS0.cTOBpggymCV8&smid=url-share