Denise LaSalle combined the blues' expressive flamboyance and risqué elements with the vocal urgency of soul in a vivid manner that earned her the title Queen of the Blues. LaSalle, who made Jackson, Tenn., her home and had often appeared at historic clubs along Jefferson Street, died Monday, Jan. 8, at age 83. The cause of her death has not been announced, but complications from injuries she had sustained in a fall resulted in the amputation of her leg in October. She maintained an immense popularity with blues and soul fans long after those styles were no longer either widely played on radio or extensively covered in mainstream media. Her lyrics and compositions adroitly blended literary fluidity and earthy content, an outgrowth of an earlier desire to be a writer. Early in her career, she'd even had a story published in the Chicago magazine Tan, but soon discovered her forte was singing.
LaSalle was born Ora Denise Allen on July 16, 1934, near the town of Sidon, in Leflore County in the Mississippi Delta. As a child she heard plenty of blues and country tunes on radio. She grew up singing in church, and made the move to Chicago as a teenager, where her first professional work came as a member of the gospel group the Sacred Five. But after trying life as a fiction writer, she wisely changed course. She switched to secular music, and took the surname LaSalle from a French character in the comics. Her debut solo single, 1967’s "A Love Reputation," was not a big hit, but it laid the groundwork for the prototype LaSalle tune. It was crisply sung and contained just the right blend of sassy repartee and bluesy edge as she touted her ability to win any man she chose.
After a series of singles with Chess Records that proved middling from a commercial standpoint, she and then-husband Bill Jones began a production company called Crajon in 1969. LaSalle had a hit as a writer, supplying Bill Cody with his early ’70s gem "Get Your Lie Straight." But it was her union with legendary Memphis producer Willie Mitchell that finally enabled LaSalle to break out nationally. Their union yielded two smashes: "Hung Up, Strung Out" in 1970, and her signature tune "Trapped by a Thing Called Love" in 1971. “Trapped,” which she also wrote, hit the top of Billboard’s R&B chart, and gave LaSalle her lone crossover hit, peaking at number 13 on the Billboard pop chart. She had other ’70s hits, including “Now Run and Tell That,” "Man Sized Job," "Love Me Right," and “Married, but Not To Each Other,” which was later a country hit for Barbara Mandrell.
LaSalle began mixing conventional blues tunes with soul songs on albums and during live performances in the ’80s. Mississippi’s Malaco label became her home and remained so for over 30 years. LaSalle penned other memorable numbers like "Your Husband is Cheating on Us," "I Wanna Do What's on Your Mind" and "It's Lying Time Again," and scored a regional hit with a cover of Rockin’ Sidney’s ’80s zydeco sensation “My Toot Toot,” which she performed as “My Tu-Tu.” She toured constantly, playing venues from honky-tonks to mid-sized arenas, and was also a very popular attraction at many festivals.
Sharon Hurt, president and CEO of the Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (aka J.U.M.P.) remembered LaSalle's stirring appearance at a recent Jefferson Street Jazz and Blues Festival in a memorial statement issued Tuesday.Â
Ms. LaSalle was not only a Jefferson Street legend, she was a beloved member of the J.U.M.P. family, having performed at the Jefferson Street Jazz and Blues Festival here in Nashville in 2014. [She] electrified audiences with her exhilarating performances of the No. 1 R&B hits "This Thing Called Love" and funny little stories of the good old days performing along the Jefferson Street corridor in North Nashville. In 2014, J.U.M.P., the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) and the R&B Foundation honored the blues trailblazer at the NMAAM's inaugural Legends Luncheon with a Rhapsody and Rhythm award. The J.U.M.P. family is honored to have known Denise LaSalle personally and professionally and to have loved our Queen of the Blues legend.
LaSalle returned her focus to gospel music for 1999’s God’s Got My Back, but moved back again to secular music for 2002’s Still the Queen, which she continued through her most recent LP, 2010’s 24 Hour Woman. LaSalle has been nominated for the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Award in the Soul Blues Female Artist category, alongside Mavis Staples and Bettye LaVette. She was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2015. LaSalle and current husband James Wolfe had been working to open the Denise LaSalle Blues Academy of Performing Arts in Jackson.
H. Beecher Hicks III, the president and C.E.O. of the National Museum of African American Music (which is expected to open in 2019), also released a statement on Tuesday.
Denise LaSalle shaped American music. Her personality, her music and the role she played in shaping her genre truly made her the Queen of the Blues. We were proud to honor her with NMAAM's inaugural Rhapsody and Rhythm award in 2014, and to have truly experienced the reach of her craft and her impact on Jefferson Street when we jammed with her during the Jefferson Street Jazz and Blues Festival that year. Her legacy is a vivid illustration of the many ways R&B, Blues and Soul have blended to create America's soundtrack. The National Museum of African American Music mourns today, but we will forever celebrate her.
So will millions of others who will always remember her spirit, intensity, creativity, and inimitable personality. A note on her death from Malaco, her record label, includes information on funeral arrangements.
