lucille hegamin

Biography

Lucille Hegamin was born Lucille Nelson on November 29, 1894, in Macon, Georgia, and became a pioneering figure in early African-American blues recording. From an early age, she demonstrated musical talent by singing in local church choirs and theatre programs. By age fifteen, she had already begun touring the US South with the Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock company, performing standards of the day in tent-show productions. This early exposure to performance and diverse musical styles would shape her artistic development during a transformative period in American music history.

Hegamin rose to prominence in the 1920s as one of the earliest blues singers to record commercially. She achieved a significant historical milestone in 1920 when she became the second African-American blues singer to release a record, just a few months after Mamie Smith's groundbreaking debut. Her recordings during this era helped establish the commercial viability of blues music and demonstrated the market demand for African-American female vocalists. Hegamin's work during the Jazz Age and the Harlem Renaissance contributed to the broader cultural movement that elevated blues and jazz from regional folk traditions to nationally recognized art forms.

Hegamin continued her career through the 1920s and beyond, performing in the vibrant entertainment scene of Harlem and other major cities. She was married to pianist William 'Bill' Hegamin, with whom she likely collaborated musically. Her legacy encompasses her role as a recording pioneer, her contributions to the development of blues as a commercial genre, and her influence on subsequent generations of blues and jazz singers. Hegamin passed away on March 1, 1970, in New York City, leaving behind a body of work that documented the early evolution of American blues music.

Fun Facts

• Lucille Hegamin was the second African-American blues singer to release a commercial recording in 1920, making her a crucial figure in the early history of recorded blues music, just months after Mamie Smith's pioneering debut.
• She began her professional career at just fifteen years old, touring the American South with the Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock company during the early 1900s.
• Hegamin was born in Macon, Georgia, during the height of the Jim Crow era, yet managed to become a nationally recognized recording artist during the Jazz Age and Harlem Renaissance.
• Her marriage to pianist William 'Bill' Hegamin represented a musical partnership that was common among jazz and blues performers of the 1920s era.

Associated Acts

• Lucille Hegamin and Her Blue Flame Syncopators - eponymous, original

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Leonard Harper - Early career mentor who employed Hegamin in his minstrel stock company, providing her first major touring opportunity (Leonard Harper Minstrel Stock touring productions) [circa 1909-1915]

Key Collaborators

• William 'Bill' Hegamin - Pianist and spouse who likely collaborated with Lucille on musical projects (Various recordings and performances) [1920s-1930s]

Discography

Albums

Top Tracks

1. You'll Want My Love (Songs We Taught Your Mother)
2. Has Anybody Seen My Corine (Songs We Taught Your Mother)
3. St. Louis Blues (Songs We Taught Your Mother)
4. Cold Cold Winter Blues (Lucille Hegamin Vol. 2 (1922-1923))
5. He May Be Your Man (But He Comes To See Me Sometime) (306) (Lucille Hegamin Vol. 2 (1922-1923))
6. The Jazz Me Blues (Lucille Hegamin Vol. 1 (1920-1922))
7. He May Be Your Man (But He Comes to See Me Sometime)
8. Has Anybody Seen My Corine (Bluesville Vol. 3)
9. St. Louis Blues (Bluesville Vol. 3)
10. Arkansas Blues (Bluesville Vol. 3)

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia
• MusicBrainz

Tags: #blues, #vaudeville-blues