Valerie Wellington
Encyclopedia
Valerie Wellington was an African American
, Chicago blues
and electric blues
singer and actress. Her 1984 album, Million Dollar $ecret saw her work with Sunnyland Slim
, Billy Branch
, and Magic Slim
. In her early years, Wellington also worked with Lee "Shot" Williams. In a short career, she switched from opera
to the blues
.
, Illinois
, United States. Wellington trained as an opera singer, graduating from the American Conservatory of Music
, but in 1982 took up singing the blues in her local Chicago clubs
. Her work extended to the theater
, where she undertook roles portraying earlier blues singers such as Ma Rainey
and Bessie Smith
. Wellington's opera training enabled her to project her voice
to theater audiences. She appeared at the 1984 San Francisco Blues Festival
, on the bill alongside Marcia Ball
and Katie Webster
.
Her recorded work blended the more traditional vaudeville
approach with a contemporary Chicago blues format. Wellington appeared on a limited number of recordings, but her voice was used on several advertisements on both television and radio. Wellington's recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
" was used on the soundtrack
to the 1989 film
, Great Balls of Fire!
, in which she briefly appeared depicting Big Maybelle
. In the same year, Wellington toured Japan, with Carlos Johnson
.
Wellington died of a cerebral aneurysm
in Maywood, Illinois
, in January 1993, at the age of 33. She was interred at the Restvale Cemetery
in Alsip, Illinois
.
In 1995, Rooster Blues
re-issued Million Dollar $ecret.
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
, Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
and electric blues
Electric blues
Electric blues is a type of blues music distinguished by the amplification of the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and often the harmonica. Pioneered in the 1930s, it emerged as a genre in Chicago in the 1940s. It was taken up in many areas of America leading to the development of regional subgenres...
singer and actress. Her 1984 album, Million Dollar $ecret saw her work with Sunnyland Slim
Sunnyland Slim
Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew was an American blues pianist, who was born in the Mississippi Delta, and later moved to Chicago, Illinois, to contribute to that city's post-war scene as a center for blues music...
, Billy Branch
Billy Branch
Billy Branch is an American blues harmonica player and singer of Chicago blues and harmonica blues.-Career:...
, and Magic Slim
Magic Slim
Magic Slim is an American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:Magic Slim was forced to give up playing the piano when he lost his little finger in a cotton gin mishap. He moved first to nearby Grenada. He first came to Chicago in 1955 with his friend and mentor Magic Sam...
. In her early years, Wellington also worked with Lee "Shot" Williams. In a short career, she switched from opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
to the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
.
Biography
She was born Valerie Eileen Hall in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States. Wellington trained as an opera singer, graduating from the American Conservatory of Music
American Conservatory of Music
The American Conservatory of Music was a major American school of music founded in 1886 by John James Hattstaedt . The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It was located in Chicago until 1991 when its Board of Trustees — chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman...
, but in 1982 took up singing the blues in her local Chicago clubs
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
. Her work extended to the theater
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, where she undertook roles portraying earlier blues singers such as Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey
Ma Rainey was one of the earliest known American professional blues singers and one of the first generation of such singers to record. She was billed as The Mother of the Blues....
and Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
. Wellington's opera training enabled her to project her voice
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...
to theater audiences. She appeared at the 1984 San Francisco Blues Festival
San Francisco Blues Festival
Debuting in 1973, the San Francisco Blues Festival is the longest running blues festival in the United States. Tom Mazzolini, the event's producer, founded the blues festival to educate the public about the history and evolution of the blues...
, on the bill alongside Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball
Marcia Ball is an American blues singer and pianist, born in Orange, Texas but who grew up in Vinton, Louisiana. She was described in USA Today as "a sensation, saucy singer and superb pianist.....
and Katie Webster
Katie Webster
Katie Webster , born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.-Career:Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband record labels, such as Lightnin' Slim and Lonesome Sundown...
.
Her recorded work blended the more traditional vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
approach with a contemporary Chicago blues format. Wellington appeared on a limited number of recordings, but her voice was used on several advertisements on both television and radio. Wellington's recording of "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
"Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" is a song best known in the 1957 rock and roll/rockabilly hit version by Jerry Lee Lewis.-Origins of the song:...
" was used on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to the 1989 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Great Balls of Fire!
Great Balls of Fire! (film)
Great Balls of Fire! is a 1989 American biographical film directed by Jim McBride and starring Dennis Quaid as Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a biography by Myra Lewis and Murray M. Silver Jr., the screenplay is written by McBride and Jack Baran...
, in which she briefly appeared depicting Big Maybelle
Big Maybelle
Mabel Louise Smith , known professionally as Big Maybelle, was an American R&B singer and pianist. Her 1956 hit single "Candy" received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999.-Biography:...
. In the same year, Wellington toured Japan, with Carlos Johnson
Carlos Johnson (blues musician)
Carlos Johnson is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is left-handed, but plays a right-handed instrument upside-down like players such as Otis Rush and Albert King. Johnson is known for his aggressive playing which has attracted audiences in Chicago blue scene since the 1970s...
.
Wellington died of a cerebral aneurysm
Cerebral aneurysm
A cerebral or brain aneurysm is a cerebrovascular disorder in which weakness in the wall of a cerebral artery or vein causes a localized dilation or ballooning of the blood vessel.- Signs and symptoms :...
in Maywood, Illinois
Maywood, Illinois
Maywood is a village in Proviso Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It was founded on April 6, 1869 and organized October 22, 1881. The population was 26,987 at the 2000 census.-Overview:...
, in January 1993, at the age of 33. She was interred at the Restvale Cemetery
Restvale Cemetery
Restvale Cemetery is located at 11700 S. Laramie Street in Alsip, Illinois, United States, a suburb southwest of the city of Chicago. Many musicians from the Chicago blues era are buried here.-Notable interments:...
in Alsip, Illinois
Alsip, Illinois
Alsip is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,725 at the 2000 census. It is a suburb of Chicago.Alsip was settled in the 1830s by German and Dutch farmers. The village is named after Frank Alsip, the owner of a brickyard that opened there in 1885...
.
In 1995, Rooster Blues
Rooster Blues
Rooster Blues is an American independent record label founded in 1980. The label is dedicated to blues music from the Mississippi Delta. Rooster Blues was co-founded by Jim O'Neal in Chicago, and initially released 14 albums by South Side blues musicians. In 1986, O'Neal moved the label to...
re-issued Million Dollar $ecret.
Discography
| Year | Title | Record label |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | Million Dollar $ecret | Flying Fish Flying Fish Records Flying Fish Records was a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society.... |
| 1991 | Life in the Big City | GBW (Japan) |