Middleton, Velma

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Middleton, Velma

Middleton, Velma, singer; b. St. Louis, Sept. 1, 1917; d. Freetown, Sierra Leone, Feb. 10, 1961. Her brother, Emmanuel, was a string bassist. She first toured as part of Connie McLean’s Orch. in the “Cotton Club Show/’ visiting South America with this company c. 1938. She worked mainly as a solo entertainer until joining Louis Armstrong in 1942; she sang with Armstrong’s Big Band and later worked regularly with Louis’s All Stars. Her comic duets with Armstrong, which also featured her dancing, were audience favorites. In January 1961, while touring Africa with Armstrong, she was taken ill and died three weeks later in a Sierra Leone hospital. She recorded two albums as a leader (1947, 1951); she was joined on the first by Earl Hines and Cozy Cole.

Discography

armstrong:That’s My Desire (1947); Baby, It’s Cold Outside (1951).

—John Chilton Who’s Who of Jazz /Lewis Porter

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