Bea Booze (Baltimore, 23 March 1912 -november 1986) was an American rhythm & blues-and jazz-singer, who was popular in America in the 1940s.
Bea Booze began her career in the 1940s, when she acted as a singer in Harlem, New York. They did so under the name Wea Bea, Bee Bea, or also as Beatrice Booze.She got a recording contract with Decca Records to cover versions of songs by Lil Green to sing. In 1942 she recorded her first album, under the supervisory eye ofSammy Price. Her version of "See See Rider Blues", previously recorded by Ma Rainey, took first place in the R & B lists and hereafter, they also called billed as ' The See See Rider Blues Girl '. In 1944 she sang "These Young Men", where she was accompanied by the trio of Price. Late forties, she recorded as a singer of the bandAndy Kirk 's include "Alabama Bound" on. At that time made Fats Navarro and Hank Jones part of Kirks Orchestra. They also took on with a Quartet including thesaxophonist George Kelly. If she acted or plates made, often accompanied herself on the guitar. In the early 1950s withdrew from the music business, even though they took up later still (in 1962, with Sammy Price). She died in Scottsville in 1986.
Confusion with Muriel Nichols[Edit][]
Producer J. Mayo Williams, which Bea Booze knew from the time he worked for Decca in 1945, brought a version of See See Rider from sung by Muriel Nichols on his Harlem record label . On the label was "Muriel (Bea Booze) Nichols". It is not clear why Williams has done this, but it led to the assumption, found in many sources, that Bea Booze was the stage name of Muriel Nichols. That is not correct; Muriel Nichols was born in 1908 in Philadelphia, while in the US Census of 1920 Beatrice Booze for comes as a 7-year-old, born on 23 March 1912, in Baltimore, Maryland.
Discography (selection)[Edit][]
- Don't You Feel My Leg (compilation cd of songs by Bea Booze, Blue Lu Barker and Baby Dee), Delmark, 1996
with Sammy Price:
- Sammy Price and the Blues Singers, volume 2: 1939-1949, Document, 2003